Crossfire (2011)
by aechfic
Summary: It's in the New World that they discover the painful truth; the more they gain, the more they have to lose... LuZo; spoilers for current events; warnings: darkfic, mpreg, medical squick, sex, torture, non-con, death, etc. OUTDATED. PLEASE SEE CROSSFIRE REDUX FOR AUTHOR'S PREFERRED CUT.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note (2014): Please be advised that this version of Crossfire is OUTDATED. To read the author's preferred edition including extensive revisions, corrections and additional material, please see "Crossfire Redux"**

Author's notes (2011): I don't generally bother with these things too often when posting fics on FF, but I felt this... thing... needed an explanation, because I've never written anything quite like this before (and probably never will again because it's broken my beta's brain as well as my own) and I'm still not quite sure where the heck it came from.

I've been kicking around this screwed-up plot for a long time, although it originated as an idea for a Fullmetal Alchemist fic that I never bothered writing, because I was running into technical issues with getting everyone from point happy-crap to point omg-kill-me-now. Plus, the whole male pregnancy aspect was seriously weirding me out (which it still does, but obviously not enough to prevent me from writing it). Anyway, the whole thing got shelved for about three, four years until One Piece popped up on my horizon, and then it was downright eerie how everything fell so neatly into place.

Except for one thing: there is absolutely no explanation whatsoever for what's happening. I've seen every possible theory for mpreg spelled out in fics, from genderswitch to magic to everything in-between, and I didn't really care to repeat any of them or waste a lot of time concocting an original and elaborate excuse for something that's biologically impossible, so I took a bit of creative license, which roughly translates to "complete cop out" in less articulate terms. I was more interested in exploring how the characters deal with the curve ball than detailing the pitch, if that makes any sense.

Everything after conception, however, is hopefully fairly biologically sound, and the type of ectopic pregnancy to which Chopper eventually draws a comparison is an infrequent but possible real life occurrence with the same associated risks. If that dubious creative license pops up anywhere else, well, I wrote this crap in my spare time, presumably for fun...? In reality, I'm quite glad this thing is done, so I can move onto something stupidly cute and fluffy or at least a bit less angsty and requiring a lot less research.

It's also important to note that the crew doesn't have a clue why this is happening either, and I'll state right here and now that they never do figure it out; there's no mysterious old legends or conveniently accessible books in the Sunny's library, just a bunch of very confused and sometimes greatly amused Straw Hats who unanimously agree that the New World side of the Grand Line's even freaking weirder than the Paradise side. Although this doesn't keep them from throwing around their own bizarre theories...

That said... I apologize if this isn't to your liking, but it needed writing before my head exploded. Three years in the mental file cabinet is a long time.

To everyone who's reviewed, thank you not only for taking the time to leave such kind comments but also for giving this extremely weird and dark fic a chance in the first place.

Edit (9/23/11): It's just been brought to my attention that some readers are stumbling across this fic via direct links that bypass both my profile page and the huge-ass list of warnings that accompany this fic. Please take note that Crossfire (and several of its subsequent drabbles) contain the following: darkfic, mpreg, medical squick, sex, torture, non-con, death, etc.

xxx

When their captain pulls them all into the dining hall for a crew-wide meeting, they don't take it seriously at first, not even when Zoro, face a shade near identical to his hair, emphasizes Chopper's startling announcement by vomiting violently and profusely into the wastebasket he's been clutching since they walked in. There's surely a more reasonable explanation for why the older pirate's been so under the weather lately, and this is just an elaborate and slightly over-the-top prank concocted by bored nakama with nothing better to do.

But no, it's not a joke, Luffy's not laughing and Zoro doesn't look even remotely amused, and the dining hall table's strewn with pages of the doctor's barely legible scribbles, detailing - for anyone brave enough to take a closer look - how the swordsman's scored positives on every last version of the test that the reindeer can devise, including the more elaborate ones intended to weed out psychosomatic symptoms.

And four days later, they're still arguing about it, because none of them - including the ship physician and the woman they thought knew just about everything - can explain why their miserably ill, horribly embarrassed and very male crewmate is mysteriously but irrefutably pregnant.

xxx

"Ah, Franky, that's highly unlikely," Robin calls from her seat on the steps without looking up from the book resting in her lap. "-considering our swordsman is still capable of swimming."

"Oh, right." The cyborg frowns, scratching his head. "Alright, people, I'm open to suggestions."

"Oi, Marimo, you didn't happen to meet some weirdo with purple hair and a really big head, did you...?"

"Hell no. I don't make it a habit to hang out with mutants like your freaky okama friends, ero-cook."

"Those people are not my-"

"Nah, if Zoro ran into Iva-chan, he'd have bigger boobs than Nami or Robin," Luffy explains, making grabby hand motions at his own chest. "And he'd be missing some other stuff, but it was definitely still there last night when-"

"OKAY," Usopp interrupts loudly. "So no Prego Prego Akuma no Mi, and no Emporio gender swaps."

The sniper frowns at the swordsman, then raises an eyebrow in consideration. "Maybe he's budding like a plant?"

Sanji bursts into laughter. "Oh shit, why the hell didn't I think of that?"

"I hate you all," Zoro grumbles, stomping over to join Robin, because at least she's not making jokes at his expense and it gets him further away from the reek of the cook's cigarette, which has his nauseous stomach doing nasty little flips like it's full of tiny but rambunctious sea kings. The historian smiles and shifts over to make room beside her, patting his arm reassuringly before she returns to her reading.

Luffy, casting a marginally reproachful look at Sanji and Usopp, scurries after the swordsman and scrunches himself onto the stairs between the older pirate's feet, wrapping his arms around one black-clad leg. "Zoro doesn't really mean that, does he?"

"No, it's okay. It's just-" He sighs, rubbing his forehead with the heel of one hand and wishing his captain didn't always take things so literally. "I think I've got the flu or food poisoning or something, but it doesn't go away, so Chopper runs some tests, and then he tells me I'm- nrrgh, I mean, what the hell?"

They all know, they've all personally witnessed and been told again and again that the Grand Line - the New World especially - is a fucking strange place where really weird shit happens, but still...

He grimaces, wishing his idiot crewmates would stop speculating about how he and Luffy broke the laws of science and start showing a little more interest in helping him decide what to do about it. Not that there's a whole lot of options available, and while he would seriously prefer that this little wrinkle in the fabric of reality just conveniently go away on its own, he's not sure he can bring himself to just flat out ask Chopper for some help in making that happen. He's fine with killing armed men, but-

"Neh, Zoro? Would-"

To the swordsman's amazement, the rubber man breaks eye contact and fidgets uneasily, color rising on his face as he traces circles on Zoro's thigh with his pointer finger. "I-I'm actually really happy, but I don't know how Zoro feels, so... I just wanna know... would Zoro be mad if I said I want him to have the baby?"

"You-" It's unnerving sometimes, how his captain seems capable of reading minds. The older pirate's also thrown slightly off-guard because even though he's been anticipating - and secretly dreading - over-exuberant flailing and shouting since the doctor pulled them into the infirmary, closed the door and hesitantly told them that life was about to get very interesting, this is actually the first time Luffy's hinted that he's excited about their impending new crewmember.

Previously, the captain's regarded the news with thoughtful deliberation; they've all seen him periodically abandoning games of tag and kitchen raids to go bombard Chopper with new questions, most of them surprisingly serious and regarding the immediate impact of their situation on the crew. He's definitely coping better than Zoro, who's spent the last few days shuffling around the ship in stunned silence and often slinking off to hide in unoccupied corners when he catches his nakama peering at him with surreptitious but very badly concealed interest.

The swordsman feels as though he's taken several of the dartboard brow cook's most potent kicks to the head, and he doesn't think he could stand Luffy treating his... condition... with the same mindless enthusiasm that he devotes to exploring new islands and gorging himself on obscene quantities of meat, so the captain's unexpectedly mature response is somewhat comforting.

"... 'cause I do. Want Zoro to have it." The younger pirate mumbles, picking distractedly at a loose thread, and when he finally raises his head, he looks so uncertain but hopeful that Zoro's heart stutters in his chest, and even though there's a small voice inside his head shrieking incessantly that he cannot be seriously agreeing to do this - namely because it can't possibly be happening to him in the first place - not once does he consider suggesting the unpleasant alternative.

"I- no. No, Luffy, I'm not angry." He swallows, his mouth suddenly very dry. "I've got no idea how the hell this is gonna work, but if it's what you really-"

The captain's face breaks into a huge relieved smile. He flings his arms around the startled older pirate, who grunts as he's flattened against the stairs, and Robin drops her book when their combined weight nearly bowls her over. She watches them fondly as she retrieves the heavy tome, bursting into laughter when the horrified captain immediately leaps back up and starts frantically patting his hands all over Zoro's front to make sure he's alright.

"Calm down, Sencho. He's really not that delicate, although I certainly wouldn't advise using your gomu sling-shot to toss him into the crow's nest anytime soon."

"Definitely not, and Nami's helped me make a detailed list of his other restrictions."

At the sound of Chopper's voice, Zoro isn't sure whether to feel consoled because the doctor seems to have everything under control or indignant that someone's automatically assumed there's no question about him seeing this through. He settles for diffident interest and motions for Nami to hand over the neatly written sheet she's glancing over. "Oi, lemme see."

"You're not going to like this," the navigator warns as she starts down the stairs. "And neither is San- OW!"

Luffy, evidently displeased that she's not moving faster, has just flung out an arm to yank the parchment from her grasp.

"Damn it, Luffy, what'd I tell you about grabbing things out of people's hands?" Nami snarls, shaking her fingers, and Sanji smacks their captain's head on his way past as he rushes up the stairs to inspect her fresh paper cuts.

"No raw meat, no raw eggs, fine, whatever," the swordsman mumbles, scanning the bulleted list as he and Luffy – who is making a disgruntled face and rubbing his skull – hold it between them. "Wait, you can't be serious- no booze, no soaking in the ofuro, and no- OI! How the hell am I supposed to train without using my weights?"

"Err," Luffy grimaces, eyeing him cautiously, "-is Zoro still sure he's not mad?"

"..."

While he thinks he's going to be bored out of his mind for the duration of this insanity, Zoro's distress at being denied the majority of his favorite hobbies is somewhat mitigated by the expression on the cook's face when Nami plucks the cigarette from his lips and coolly informs him that he's just quit smoking.

xxx

"C'mon, Chopper," the swordsman groans, staring morosely at the small heap of capsules and tablets that the doctor's just dropped in front of him. "This is at least twice what you give everybody else."

"Everybody else eats their vegetables," Sanji snaps as he passes behind the swordsman on his way to the sink, where a small basket of mikan sits. "-except for Luffy, but I think we've all agreed he's probably not human, and you've got more to worry about than a mild case of scurvy. Just take the damn vitamins already before I come over there and shove them down your throat."

"He's right," Chopper tells the older pirate sternly as he turns away from their captain, who's just received his own daily dose and – to Zoro's disgust – promptly inhaled it sans water, mouth looking remarkably like Franky's shop vac in the process. "Without any missed menstrual periods to count, I have no way of knowing how far along you are yet, so it's critical that you get enough folic acid in your diet now because-"

"I know, I know, fetal neural tubular developmental whatsit, blah blah blah." Thanks to Chopper and Robin, who've spent the last few days pouring thoroughly over every medical text in the library, the entire crew has been learning more about human biology and reproduction than they ever had a need or desire to know. The swordsman scowls, poking the nearest lozenge, which looks big enough to choke one of Water Seven's yagara. "But I still fucking hate these things."

"If Zoro tries to accidentally drop them on the floor under the table again, I'll kick his ass," Luffy warns and then frowns when he realizes he won't be able to follow through with this particular threat. "-or at least make him sleep on the couch tonight."

It's taken no time at all for the captain to become downright fastidious about ensuring their doctor's instructions are followed to the letter, following his aggravated lover around the ship so he can chase him into the men's quarters when Chopper announces that he's been sleeping in the sun too long and to remind him repeatedly not to lift the anchor when they stop for the night.

The swordsman supposes he should appreciate the concern, but he draws the line at requiring an escort on his increasingly frequent trips to the head.

Luffy's now scowling, lower lip protruding disturbingly far, and making exaggerated pointing gestures at the pile of prenatal vitamins. "Couch!"

"Okay, okay, at least give me something to wash them down with, alright?" Zoro grumbles. He bristles when there's a small chorus of protests from the other men and Nami, who's just joined them at the table. "I meant water, you idiots! I'm not stupid!"

Even though Chopper has already negated his interest in drinking with a horrifically descriptive lecture on the various complications associated with overindulgence during pregnancy, there's no liquor to be found on the ship anyway, their supply having been promptly dumped overboard when the doctor presented Sanji with a lengthy list of instructions regarding their nakama's new dietary requirements and restrictions.

Zoro is still angry that anyone – especially the goddamn cook – believes him incapable of exercising a little personal restraint given the current situation, so it's a somewhat touchy subject.

Luffy scoots closer, pressing himself against the swordsman's back as he slides both hands over his stiffened shoulders and kneads until he feels the tension start draining away. "No, Zoro's not stupid, but Chopper said he really needs to take care of himself right now..."

Mollified by the massage if not necessarily by his captain's words, the older pirate closes his eye and leans into the fingers digging into his taut muscles, feeling a hint of amusement because Luffy's absolutely the last person with any right to tell someone else to be mindful of their own safety. "Yeah, right, whatever you say, Sencho."

"Idiot Marimo. Oi, Nami-san, what on earth made you agree to let that bastard eat these?" There's a series of dull thunks as Sanji reluctantly slices a blade through the first mikan, which falls into perfect segments despite his disgruntled attitude, because the cook can't help striving for presentation even it's just for the shitty swordsman. "I mean, I'm well aware that citrus fruit is extremely high in vitamin B, but he can get that without decimating your poor trees."

"Mmm, I was feeling generous this morning," the navigator hums, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her laced fingers. "He took my watch last night, and I know how much he hates those pills, so..."

"Why," Chopper demands, glaring up at Zoro, "-weren't you in bed, sleeping?"

"He got up a few hours after you came back from watch. I found him on deck, barfing over the side," the captain chimes in, scruffing his fingertips through the older pirate's hair and laughing when the swordsman swats at him halfheartedly.

"And I'll do it again, right here on this table, if I try to swallow those things. They're frickin' huge."

"You throw up on my nice clean tablecloth and I'll punt you from here to the men's quarters."

"Like to see you try, curly-brow."

"Both of you, stop it right now. Sanji, you know better, and Zoro- stop smirking at him! Don't think for a minute that I won't still smack you upside that green head of yours just because your belly's suddenly off-limits."

Ignoring the swordsman's muttered assurance that he's going to aim for her lap instead of the tablecloth, the navigator glances over her shoulder as Usopp stumbles in, yawning and rubbing blearily at his half-closed eyes. He's accompanied by Robin, who looks considerably more coherent, and Franky, who makes a beeline for the cold bottles of cola waiting for him on the counter.

Sanji abandons his cutting board to offer the historian a brimming mug. "Coffee, Robin-chwan~!"

"Ah, thank you."

"Didn't you get any sleep either?" Nami asks Usopp as he flops into the chair beside her. "You look like death warmed over."

"I was resting peacefully on deck when I was woken by the heinous gurgles of moon beasts," the sniper groans, rubbing the back of his neck. "-or it might have been the sound of Zoro regurgitating his left lung. Oi, Chopper, I thought it's supposed to be called morning sickness for a reason, so why's he puking in the middle of the night?"

"It's not restricted specifically to mornings, but it's likely to be worse if he hasn't eaten anything for a while. Also, his stomach's particularly sensitive to certain odors," Chopper explains, turning to cast a suspicious eye on Sanji as he emerges from behind the counter. "I trust you didn't-"

"No," the cook growls, stalking over to slam a bowl of mikan wedges down on the table in front of Zoro. "You threw out all the packs in my locker, and somebody else found my emergency stash. There you go, shithead, and don't forget to eat the peels too."

"Taping valuables to the underside of your bunk is one of the oldest tricks in the book, Sanji-kun."

Gnawing furiously on his lower lip, the cook's not sure whether to mourn the loss of his cigarettes or applaud his mellorine's genius. He settles for favoring her with a weak smile. "O-Of course, Nami-san."

"No wonder you're so touchy, ass-wipe. You're not happy unless you got something in your mouth."

"Says the idiot Marimo that got himself knocked up by our captain. Guess there's no doubt now about who bottoms."

"Not always," Luffy supplies cheerfully and protests when Usopp punches him.

"A-At least I'm getting laid," the swordsman retorts, glaring at Sanji, although he's now turning crimson. "How's your right hand been treating you?"

Luffy, Usopp and Franky snicker. Nami slumps forward in her seat with a sigh of exasperation, crossing her arms on the tabletop and burying her face against them, muffling her voice. "Sanji, go wash your cutting board. Zoro, just shut up and eat the bloody mikan."


	2. Chapter 2

Despite continued confusion and the mixed excitement and trepidation of the various parties involved, life eventually settles back into the usual routine, because there's islands to explore and Marine vessels to outrun and ambitious rookie crews that keep foolishly assuming that the Straw Hat captain's somehow bribed his way to a higher bounty, although they learn otherwise quickly enough.

xxx

"Brook, pass me a piece of that rice paper?"

"Certainly, Zoro-san."

Seated cross-legged on the lawn with the various components of a maintenance kit spread out between them, the two swordsmen fall back into a comfortable silence as they clean blood and grime from their weapons, listening to the steady chatter of Franky and Usopp while they work nearby and the occasional splash of a spent cannon ball being tossed overboard.

Luffy, sprawled on his stomach at Zoro's side, rolls over and rests his head in the older pirate's lap, lazily watching his meticulous treatment of the katana.

"Powder ball?" Brook offers.

"Yeah, thanks."

The captain sneezes violently as a strong breeze wafts fine dust into his upturned nostrils, hands flying up to cover his mouth and nose, and Zoro cautiously raises his blade a bit higher to keep the razor-sharp edge safely out of range. "Oi, Sencho, that's probably not the best place to be right now. You're gonna lose most of your face if I drop this."

Scrubbing at his watering eyes with the back of his hand, the younger pirate shrugs unconcernedly. "Meh, I trust Zoro."

"Could've fooled me, with all that fuss earlier," the swordsman mutters. "Now scoot before you end up covered in polishing powder and track it all over the ship, 'cause I'm the one who'll hear about it."

He's been slowly growing accustomed to his captain's new over-protectiveness, and he understands that Luffy means well, but trying to fight effectively without accidentally slicing off one of his own limbs is a lot more challenging when he's got nakama yelling at him to avoid incoming cannon balls and unexpectedly intercepting blows aimed for his back, nearly getting their fool heads removed by one of his swords in the process.

And as if having his opponents repeatedly slammed out of reach by his lover's fists wasn't annoying enough, he also had to deal with the goddamn cook hogging all the action. He and Sanji have a long-established competition running, and while he'd been too distracted to keep an accurate count this afternoon, he's almost sure he's now trailing behind.

He resumes tapping the powder ball when Luffy vacates his lap and slides behind him to wrap snug arms around his torso, reminding himself that it could've been worse. Chopper might've insisted on his weathering out the fight in the men's quarters, but thankfully the doctor had just given him a firm glare and told him to be very, very, very careful. He recalls hearing the "very" squeezed in there about twenty times, as though the reindeer couldn't emphasize it enough.

"Marimo. It's unusual to see you looking so... healthy after a fight."

"Some asshole kept trying to steal my thunder," the swordsman grunts, glaring at the cook, who's just dropped to the grass beside Brook, although he continues polishing Wado's blade. "Today's tally doesn't count. I'm not losing my lead just 'cause you guys won't let me cut loose."

"Tell that to Robin; she's the one keeping score," Sanji snorts, flicking a partially nibbled toothpick in the green-haired man's direction.

"Oi, keep your spitty chew sticks to yourself, you oversized rodent."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, you heard me. You look like a frickin' beaver gnawing a tree when you're chomping on those things. I'm gonna start checking the table legs for tooth marks next time I'm in the dining hall."

"You're gonna be banned from the dining hall, you shitty-"

They both look up as a huge shadow falls over them, to find Franky glaring down at them. "Guys, I hate to break up your moment, but just in case you forgot, I'm pretty sure our navigator said something about throwing all of us overboard if anybody woke her up."

Another squabble breaks out when Sanji accuses Zoro of disturbing Nami-san's rest, and the swordsman argues that the stupid eyebrow cook's being just as loud - if not louder - and brandishes his unsheathed sword threateningly.

"Ah, gentlemen-?" Brook interjects. "That might not be a good-"

Luffy, who's been dozing despite the commotion, lulled by the older pirate's body heat and the deep voice rumbling under his ear, snaps abruptly awake, throwing out a hand to catch Sanji's heel before it can connect, even as the cook belatedly realizes his mistake and tries to pull the kick.

"Shit-!"

"-idea."

"Wanna watch where you're aiming, ero-cook?"

"Idiots," Franky mutters, leaving his nakama staring uneasily at each other as he heads across the deck to where Usopp's straining to heave one last cannon ball over the railing.

"I, uh, didn't mean to..." Sanji trails off, almost wishing that one of them would hit him or at least yell at him, because it'd be a hell of a lot less awkward than their matching inscrutable expressions. He's used to exchanging blows with the swordsman over petty shit - hell, they usually go all out trying to kick each other's asses - and he's reacted automatically, forgetting that the rules of engagement are no longer the same.

Luffy pushes away the foot he's intercepted inches from Zoro's midsection, eyes boring into the cook's over the older pirate's shoulder. "We didn't get to eat yet 'cause those guys showed up and wanted to fight, and I'm hungry. Go make lunch."

It's a clear dismissal, and Sanji meekly accepts it as such.

"Sorry," he mumbles as he rises to his feet. "-just got a little carried away."

He glances back once when he reaches the stairs, to find Zoro pointedly ignoring him, industriously rubbing his freshly re-oiled blade with a new sheet of rice paper. The captain, however, is still staring at him, one hand now resting casually but possessively on the swordsman's abdomen, and the cook feels the hair rise on the back of his neck at the tenebrous mien of Luffy's face. He looks away quickly, hastening his step.

"Quit freaking him out. He's a douche, but he knows he fucked up." He's not sure why he's defending the cook, but he can't deny the man looked sufficiently shaken by his oversight.

"Hmm?"

The older pirate squints at his sword, runs the rice paper down its length one last time and decides he's satisfied. "It's gonna take everybody a while to adjust, right? Hell, part of me's still waiting for Chopper to jump out and tell me it's a goddamn joke. Feels like my skull might explode if I think about it too much."

"I must say, Zoro-san, you actually seem rather calm," Brook observes, returning his cane sword to its sheath with a faint clink and laying the weapon beside him.

Zoro snorts, mouth quirking in a satirical smile. "Glad to hear it seems that way. I guess that means nobody else can hear the screaming in my head."

He re-sheathes Wado and reaches for Kitetsu's hilt, but his captain's sliding back into his lap before he can draw the cursed blade. "Oi, Luffy, I'm not finished yet. Why don't you go help Franky and Usopp?"

"They're almost done," the rubber man protests, curling his fingers over the top of the swordsman's haramaki. "-and I wanna stay right here with Zoro."

Uttering an exasperated sigh, because there's no use arguing with those round puppy-dog eyes peering up at him, the older pirate lies back and folds his arms behind his head, closing his eye and resigning himself to an even later meal. He certainly doesn't mind sparing a few moments for Luffy, but he can't justify leaving one of his swords unattended in favor of food and, while Brook proposed assisting him with the maintenance when they first brought the kit outside, there's no way he's taking the skeleton up on the offer.

It's not that he doesn't trust the other man, but Kitetsu is finicky and doesn't take kindly to being handled by strangers, even if they're his own nakama.

He waits for the younger pirate to settle down next to him, but the captain apparently has other ideas, and there's suddenly fingers tugging at his clothing and a draft blowing down his front, and he cracks his eyelid to find the idiot stretching out his haramaki and peering inside as though he expects to find something there, patting at him curiously. "Care to tell me what the hell you think you're doing?"

"Watched pots-" Usopp states sensibly as he flops down beside them. "-never boil."

"An astute observation," Brook grins. "Give it time, Luffy-san."

Luffy glances up briefly but he's too busy fending off Zoro's persistent attempts to chase him away to bother disputing their well-intended comments. None of their crewmates have noticed anything different about the swordsman, other than the fact that he's not throwing up quite so much any more, because he doesn't encourage casual contact with anyone else, but as his lover, the captain's a lot more familiar with his body.

There might not be a whole lot to see yet, but his fingertips register the differences every time he touches the older pirate's lower belly. Zoro feels softer than normal in some places, probably partly due to the stringently enforced restrictions on his weight lifting, but there's also a small firm mass evident under his abdominal muscles if Luffy presses hard enough, almost as though he's swallowed one of Nami's mikan whole.

Zoro doesn't like it when he does this, flinching and complaining that their meddling doctor's already groping him enough without the captain doing it too, and the younger pirate tries not to be so rough after he's been dumped bodily out of their hammock a few times, because he's developing a sneaking suspicion that it might actually hurt, even if the swordsman refuses to actually admit it.

"Oi, you gonna show the baby how to use all this stuff?" Usopp, who's been poking through the open maintenance kit, asks suddenly. "When it's old enough, I mean."

Zoro pauses yanking on his captain's collar and blinks up at the sniper. "Dunno, I guess I didn't really think about that..."

"C'mon, Zoro, you could teach your kid Santoryu! That'd be so cool!"

Luffy and Usopp take one look at each other and burst into excited laughter, agreeing that this is an awesome idea, but Zoro is dumbfounded, struck by a wave of blinding new terror as he considers for the first time that this won't end when Chopper does the lapo- laopora- argh, whatever the hell the doctor called that procedure, and they're eventually going to be dealing with a unique individual with his or her own likes and dislikes and-

"B-But what if it doesn't like swords?" He demands helplessly, and Usopp immediately stops laughing, because he doesn't think he's ever seen the older pirate look so thoroughly unnerved.

"Then we teach it something else." Luffy grins. "Like navigation or medicine-"

"..."

"-or cooking."

"Fuck no. Luffy, we're not letting our kid spend all its time hanging out with that stupid eyebrow-"

He flails in surprise as his captain swoops down and silences his diatribe by kissing him forcefully. Usopp rolls his eyes and returns to tinkering with the powder ball he's plucked from the narrow wooden box containing the rice paper and oil, but Brook guffaws loudly, having correctly deduced the situation.

"W-What was that all about?" The swordsman asks breathlessly when he's finally released.

"'Our kid?'" Luffy repeats, beaming down at him. "That was the first time Zoro said it; that the baby's both his and mine."


	3. Chapter 3

Dinner has been a noisy affair, with yet another round of Usopp and Franky suggesting the most preposterous theories they can imagine: everything from tantric sex rituals to Haki to abduction by flying saucers. It's evolved into an ongoing game of one-upmanship between them for the past month or so, much to the great amusement of some crewmembers and the dismay of others.

Zoro's been banned from bringing his swords to the table, following an incident earlier this week that ended in the utter destruction of an innocent chair, but this doesn't keep him from trying to throttle Usopp with his bare hands when the somber-faced sniper asks him if he's absolutely certain he's never been violated by an alien probe.

"I keep thinking about what Franky said," Nami muses suddenly to Brook as he sits beside her in the library, the desk before them strewn with paperwork. "Wouldn't it be weird if Luffy really did, oh, I don't know, accidentally will Zoro pregnant using Haki?"

The skeleton, who's found himself roped into helping with the budget ever since the delighted navigator discovered he has a good head for numbers, regards her thoughtfully. "I take it you're referring to the so-called Haōshoku form."

He scratches his head, producing a faint screeching noise that makes Nami flinch. "Ah- my apologies. It's an interesting theory, but I very much doubt that it has anything to do with their current situation. Not that I know very much about Haki myself; perhaps you might ask Robin-san-?"

"No, you heard Luffy. He just laughed and said Rayleigh never mentioned anything like that during his training. It was just a thought, considering how happy and excited he is about being a father- which makes me wonder if he's ever thought about it before." She shrugs and starts shuffling documents into a neat pile. "Oh well. I guess we'll probably never know, not that it really matters at this point."

"Indeed."

The slap of sandals on the deck outside reaches them moments before the captain's head pops around the doorframe. "Nami~?"

"Hmm?"

"Robin says she's gonna be up really late reading, and-"

"And I've got watch." She sighs. "Go ahead- but don't you dare leave crumbs on my pillowcase this time!"

"Sure," Luffy agrees without a second thought, grinning as he turns and runs past the main mast to yell down over the railing. "Oi, Zoro, we got the bed again tonight!"

Nami watches, smiling, as he launches himself over the railing and disappears from sight, and she catches a startled yell from the unseen swordsman as the captain unexpectedly drops down beside him, followed by the low drone of quiet conversation and then a belated shout of "thanks, Nami!" before the voices fade as the pair heads towards the stairs to the lawn deck.

"What was that all about?" Brook asks curiously.

"That's right, I forgot. You usually spend the night near the helm instead of in the men's quarters, so you don't know."

It's a curious habit, given the skeleton's many years of solitary exile, but he's explained that he can't stand using a box hammock because it reminds him too much of laying in a coffin. Franky, moved to excessive and tumultuous tears, has offered to find a solution, but Brook's insisted that he's grown to enjoy resting under the stars because he knows his crew is sleeping safely nearby.

"Chopper told Zoro to start sleeping on the sofa because it's better for his back, and he doesn't want him climbing in and out of the hammocks, but Luffy's been complaining that they can't sleep together anymore because they can't fit side-by-side. He claims Zoro's stomach keeps knocking him on the floor."

Brook tilts his head questioningly, and the navigator laughs. "That's what he says anyway. I have no idea if he's exaggerating, because Zoro's wearing that damn coat every time I see him."

"Yes, it does seem to have become a permanent piece of Zoro-san's attire."

"Anyway, Robin suggested that they might like some time to themselves without the other guys around, so we worked out an agreement that they can borrow our room for the night if we're not going to be using it."

"Ah, Nami-san? Doesn't that mean-?"

"Oh, I'm sure they're doing more than just sleeping. It can't be coincidence that our captain's been looking so smug lately, although I haven't heard Zoro complaining either." She eases out of her chair and straightens up, stretching her arms over her head. "Mmph. It's alright, I don't really mind. They've been good about washing the sheets afterwards, and Zoro's almost always pretty mellow the next day, so I don't have to worry about him picking fights with Sanji and racking up more damages to repair at the next island."

She grins at Brook. "And of course they pay handsomely for the privilege as well."

"I see."

"Now if only I could just get Luffy to stop sneaking food in there. The last thing we need is having the ship overrun by mice."

xxx

Flopping haphazardly onto the bed, limbs thrown spread-eagle so his hands and feet are dangling off both sides, Luffy utters an exaggerated sigh of contentment. "Aah~ this is so comfy. I want a bed like this to sleep in all the time."

"You're the captain, dummy," Zoro snorts, reaching down to tousle the younger pirate's hair. "Just tell Franky you want him to do some remodeling."

"Maybe I will..." He scrambles up and sits cross-legged on the mattress, snagging the sash tied around the swordsman's waist so he can reel him closer while unknotting it. "Why does Zoro keep wearing this stupid coat? It makes him harder to undress..."

"I already get enough weird looks from everybody when they think I'm not looking. I don't need them staring at this too." The older pirate glances away, lapsing into uncomfortable silence as Luffy's hands slide under his haramaki to explore the developing curve he's refused to show to anyone but the captain- and Chopper, because although Zoro hates suffering through weekly check-ups, the reindeer won't take no for an answer. "They'll just laugh at-"

He breaks off mid-protest, grunting as his captain's fingers trace along the waistband of his trousers and then delve inside to wrap firmly around him.

"Mmm, Zoro's hard already and I barely touched him," Luffy murmurs, ducking his head to nuzzle his cheek against the swordsman's belly and grinning when the caress produces a gasp and a choked curse. "He's so sensitive right now."

Flushing darkly - it's been downright embarrassing lately how fast minimal contact can leave his pulse racing and his synapses misfiring - Zoro bites the inside of his cheek to keep from groaning as a warm wet mouth travels along the scar crossing his torso, kissing and biting and sucking on its way to his left nipple.

In a matter of minutes, he finds himself stripped of both pants and haramaki and lying supine on the bed with his coat still partially draped over his shoulders and crumpled in a dark puddle around him, clawing at the mattress as Luffy strokes his chest and stomach and aching erection with one hand while the oil-slicked fingers of the other move insistently in and out of his tense body, coaxing him towards release.

He can't tear his gaze away from his captain's hunger-filled eyes, which are wide and watching his squirming with focused intensity, and the sight of the younger pirate's tongue darting out to moisten his lips sends a violent shudder through his entire frame as his control snaps. He's left panting and shivering under the hand still petting and stroking his over-sensitized skin.

"That didn't take long at all," the rubber man laughs, his voice rough with arousal. He slides his fingers free, grinning when this prompts a dazed mutter of protest, and moves both hands under the older pirate's knees to tilt his hips higher so he can press himself into the swordsman's body. "Mmm, Zoro feels r-really good..."

Back arching slightly as Luffy slides home and then pauses to collect himself, Zoro closes his eye with a groan, slowly relaxing his fingers where they've been clutching tight fistfuls of his coat and the sheets. He leans his head back, breathing heavily through his mouth.

He's still basking in the tingling afterglow of his orgasm when his captain, who's been quietly studying his slack expression and suddenly wants very badly to kiss him, bends down and inadvertently crushes his chest and stomach under his own folded legs as the younger pirate strains to reach his face.

"Mmph- ow, stop. Oi, I said stop! Don't lean on me, it fucking hurts!"

To his relief Luffy backs off as soon as he realizes the distress is genuine, rubbing his belly lightly in apology, and after a bit of squabbling and awkward maneuvering, they finally get situated with the captain spooning Zoro's back and mouthing his shoulder and the back of his neck as he pulls the older pirate more firmly into his shallow thrusts.

"Better?"

"Nngh, y-yeah."

Zoro's leaning his head back, aiding Luffy in his desperate quest to join their lips, when they both register the barely perceptible stirring where the younger pirate's fingers are gripping his abdomen and instantly freeze, staring uncertainly into each other's faces. The swordsman utters an odd wheezing noise as it finally occurs to him that the funny fluttering sensation that he's been aware of for the past few days has probably not been gas or indigestion like he thought, not if his captain can feel it too.

"What was that?"

"I-I'm not sure," The older pirate lies, his voice sounding slightly strained. He needs time to think about what he's just realized, because if that odd shifting really is the thing - oh god, baby, he reminds himself, now feeling as though he's been thoroughly pole-axed - inside him, it's just made the whole situation a lot more real. Chopper's tests and the nausea that's now thankfully gone and the damn prenatal vitamins and the fact that his trousers don't fit properly and will need to be let out again soon- he can ignore that stuff or even pretend there's another reason for it when he's feeling particularly overwhelmed, but this is different.

"Well, it definitely wasn't Zoro's stomach growling." Luffy rests his chin on the swordsman's shoulder and taps his fingertips firmly against the swell of his lover's stomach, laughing delightedly when there's another faint flicker of movement and promptly doing it again, his eyes enormous and dancing with excitement. "Zoro, Zoro, check it out! Oi, are you saying hello to us?"

"Jeez, Luffy, don't talk to the kid when we're-"

"Why not? It's not like it's gonna talk back or anything," the captain asks, puzzled, and snickers when Zoro's head whips around so the older pirate can shoot him an incredibly disturbed look. "Besides, I guess this is how we made it, right?"

Unable to argue with this logic but still finding the situation incredibly disturbing - he can't help feeling as though they've gained an unexpected and inescapable audience - the swordsman flushes and reaches back to cuff him in the side of the head. "Okay, this is seriously weirding me out, so maybe we should just go to slee-"

"Mmm, and we will. After I make Zoro feel good again."

"But-"

"Shhh, relax."

"Oi, wait, don't-"

But Luffy's already rocking gently against him, hand clasped firmly to his belly as the younger pirate murmurs silly but earnest endearments in his ear, and Zoro's protests cease unfinished because his captain is making love to him, protectively cradling the life quickening inside his body, and the astonishingly staggering emotion that's building in the swordsman's chest renders him breathless and completely incapable of continuing the argument.

xxx

Fuzzy-headed and groggy after a long, incredibly boring night in the look out tower, Nami forgets to knock when she pushes open the door to the women's quarters, assuming that the guys have already vacated and turned the room back over to Robin.

To her surprise, her bed is still occupied, Zoro's bare back visible from the doorway.

The swordsman is deeply asleep, his ribcage rising and falling steadily in time to his slow breathing, and she feels a stab of powerful curiousity, but she can't catch a glimpse of his abdomen without edging closer, even by standing on tip toe, because the sheet's heavily bunched and rumpled where it's draped over his waist.

Luffy is still awake, sprawled stomach-down on the far side of the older pirate with his chin propped on his folded arms and his feet kicking lazily. The navigator catches the low murmur of the captain's voice and frowns, momentarily confused that the younger pirate's addressing Zoro's midsection rather than his face if he's trying to wake him up, and then she catches a few words and abruptly realizes that he's not talking to Zoro, he's talking to their unborn baby.

She's walked in on such an incredibly private moment that she feels like an intruder in her own quarters and immediately starts backing out, but when her fumbling hand rattles the doorknob too loudly, the captain finally becomes aware of her presence and lifts his head, greeting her with a broad smile.

"Oi, Nami!" He's trying to be quiet, but he's also Luffy and therefore incorrigibly noisy, so it comes out quite a bit louder than necessary, and Nami flinches as the swordsman twitches in his sleep, muttering haltingly for Sanji to quit being such a bastard and bring him a beer.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you guys were still here," she hisses, embarrassed that she's been caught gawking, but the captain just laughs and resettles his chin on his forearm.

"S'okay. I was just telling the kid about the time Zoro threatened to kill me when I saved him from the Marines. You hadn't shown up yet, Nami, so you didn't see it, but he was all dirty and bloody from getting tied to a pole and beat up and not eating for nine days, and he still wanted to kick my ass when I told him he was joining my crew!"

The navigator has no idea how to respond to this, although she supposes it's typical of Luffy to select such an... inappropriate... moment, even if that's how her nakama's first encounter really did go down. She's heard the two of them joke about it frequently enough to know he's telling the truth. "Couldn't you think of a more pleasant memory to share with your child?"

The younger pirate sits up and stares at her like she's crazy. "What are you talking about? That was one of the best days of my life, 'cause I met Zoro!"

"I understand that, Luffy, but-" It occurs to Nami that she's still standing in the doorway with her hand grasping the knob, and it's now bright enough outside that the early-risers - namely Sanji and Franky because Zoro hasn't been getting up for crack-of-dawn weight training for nearly two months now - will be emerging from the men's quarters soon. She slips inside, closing the door behind her, and heads for the nearest sofa. "Look, Luffy, I'm exhausted. I don't care if you want to stay 'til he wakes up, but-"

"Did Zoro ever tell you how he got caught?" Luffy demands as he watches her sink gratefully into the cushions.

"No, but-"

Leaning forward, his annoyed expression softening into one of surprising tenderness, the captain brushes gentle fingers over Zoro's cheek, snuggling closer when the swordsman stirs and drowsily reaches out for him. "He turned himself in to protect a kid. A little girl."

"I see..." She's trying very hard not to fall asleep while he's talking, because this is obviously very important to him, but she can't seem to keep her eyes open.

"If he agreed to let somebody weaker than him tie him up and starve him for a month to save somebody else's kid-" Luffy's voice catches in his throat, and when he looks up, his expression is fierce. "Zoro's gonna be an awesome dad."

_Not like mine, or my brother's or even Usopp's, 'cause he's gonna be right there with me, keeping OUR kid safe_, he's thinking, although he doesn't say it out loud. He has no idea what the future holds for his crew beyond the loosely definitive and rather broad term of "adventure" - that's inevitable, given their goals - but he does know that both he and his swordsman will do everything in their power to ensure that their child doesn't grow up scrounging in a city dump or restlessly watching the sea for a ship that never comes.


	4. Chapter 4

"Wow, you're both up early," Nami remarks a few days later as she and Robin enter the aquarium bar and discover that it's already occupied. "How's Zoro feeling this morning?"

"He's fine," Luffy mumbles from where he's sprawled face-down on the bench, gesturing to where the swordsman, wearing his long-sleeved toggle coat securely fastened despite the warm weather, is standing on the other side of the room and peering intently into the fish tank. "Is breakfast ready yet, or is Sanji still throwing things?"

"Why is Sanji-"

"Sencho," Robin interrupts, frowning. "What in the world is Zoro doing?"

Nami takes another look and realizes that the older pirate's not actually watching the strange fish that Luffy and Usopp added to the tank earlier in the week but rather staring at the glass itself, brow slightly furrowed. As she watches, he raises an arm and starts scrubbing furiously at the surface with his coat sleeve. The navigator blinks. "Uhm, Luffy-?"

"He said the fingerprints on the glass bother him- I dunno why," their captain groans. "Naaami, I'm sick of doing chores and I'm hungry~"

"I don't know what the hell's going on," Sanji grumbles as he appears in the doorway between the two women. "-but apparently the other guys threw them out of the men's quarters because Marimo woke up a few hours ago and decided the room needed cleaning."

He drops a loaded plate onto the bench beside Luffy and watches as the captain lifts his head, nose twitching, and then bolts upright, cramming pancakes and eggs and toast into his mouth faster than he can swallow them. "I'll bring you more when the next batch is done, as long as you promise to stay down here and keep that crazy bastard out of my kitchen."

The swordsman turns away from his task to glare at the cook. "I told you, the floor was dirty."

"Bullshit, my floor's clean enough to eat off, shitty swordsman!"

"You dripped batter on it," Zoro snarls, "-and I found cobwebs under the stove!"

Nami bites the inside of her cheek, trying not laugh, because the older pirate – who frequently needs to be goaded into helping with the ship work because he'd rather be napping on the deck – looks positively offended by the presence of spiders in Sanji's kitchen. She exchanges a glance with Robin. "Sanji-kun, was he seriously crawling around on the floor underfoot while you were trying to make breakfast?"

"I kept tripping over him. I swear he's lost his goddamn mind."

"It's not my fucking fault you can't clean up after yourself!"

Luffy waves to catch the navigator's attention and solemnly lifts a hand to twirl a finger next to his temple in the universal sign for crazy, and she bursts into giggles, earning a fierce glare from Zoro, who's missed the exchange because the captain's on his blind side.

Later that morning, when several baffled and aggravated Straw Hats corner Chopper and demand to know why the swordsman's acting so weird, the amused doctor explains that pregnant women sometimes experience a strong psychological urge to clean and organize, commonly referred to as a nesting instinct.

Zoro has no idea why Usopp and Franky insist on making chirping noises and flapping their arms every time he walks past with another load of dirty laundry, but it's really fucking annoying. He's relieved when Nami finally catches on to their antics and chases the troublemakers off to their respective workshops, telling them to stop antagonizing him because she certainly doesn't mind having someone else volunteering to do her chores.

xxx

Nearly two weeks later, while waiting in the dining hall for the eyebrow cook to quit farting around adding the finishing touches to Nami and Robin's dishes and finally get dinner on the table, Zoro finds himself cornered by both his captain and doctor.

"Can't we do this somewhere else? The goddamn infirmary's right over there." He grumbles as the reindeer unhooks the toggles of the coat he still insists on wearing in the presence of his other crewmates. "You could've just asked me to stop by later."

"But Zoro hates check-ups and always hides whenever he knows Chopper's looking for him," Luffy points out, tightening his hold around the swordsman's shoulders and upper arms as he tries to squirm away from the hooves invading his personal space. "And Zoro got out of the last time 'cause of all the crazy stuff that happened on that island with those awesome giant beetles."

The swordsman shudders, glad it didn't take longer for the log pose to record and lock onto the next island. Eight days of twiddling his thumbs and watching his crewmates defend the ship from bombardier beetles the size of small houses was more than enough, especially with the captain insisting repeatedly and at length that they needed one as a pet.

Zoro's still slightly peeved that he wasn't allowed to fight, because he'd been looking forward to testing his changing center of gravity in battle, but no amount of bluster and threats had swayed Chopper. The sting of humiliation at being bustled off-deck by the grim-faced doctor had lessened a bit after they'd abruptly discovered close-range attacks wouldn't work when Brook's attempt to slice an insect in half resulted in a rather large explosion of gas and twitching legs.

So the swordsman hadn't felt quite so left out when his captain and the cook, slightly singed and smelling strongly of sulfur, had joined him in the dining hall, Sanji picking bits of chitin from his suit jacket and complaining loudly about his ruined shoes. Luffy, undeterred by his scorched knuckles, had grandly announced that the fiery spray erupting from the beetles' asses just made them that much cooler, earning a heartbroken sob from Brook, whose beloved feather boa had been irreparably damaged by the caustic fluids.

In the end, all three members of the Monster Trio had watched rather glumly from the sidelines as the sniper and navigator took turns blasting bugs from a safe distance with well-aimed Kabuto shots and Clima-Tact-induced lighting bolts.

"Leggo, damn it!"

"C'mon, just let him check, okay?" Luffy whines petulantly in Zoro's ear. "He's already seen-"

"It's not Chopper I'm worried about," the older pirate growls, shooting a dirty look at Nami, who's just folded her newspaper and set it aside, her gaze keen with interest because she's been trying to snatch a peek at him ever since the first time he grudgingly demanded that she lend him her sewing kit. "Can't you at least kick those assholes out first?"

"Oi!" Sanji turns from the stove to level a smoldering glare across the countertop. "I don't give a shit what you call me, Marimo, but you better not be including Nami-san with that vulgar remark. You don't need to be such an uncouth bastard."

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black," Franky mutters to Brook, who chortles into his tea.

"Dumbass cook." Zoro struggles again briefly in Luffy's restraining arms as Chopper pushes his coat open, revealing the haramaki beneath, which is now stretched snugly around his middle and covering a distinct bulge. The swordsman huffs angrily as Nami leans forward on her elbows to peer across the table at him.

"So that's what you've been hiding under there," the navigator muses, ignoring the menacing scowl aimed in her direction. "Usopp mentioned that you'd gotten a little funny about using the bathhouse with the other guys around."

"Usopp needs to keep his fucking mouth shut." The older pirate growls, watching the red-haired woman cautiously as she slides out of her seat and comes around the table for a closer look. "Quit staring and go read your damn paper. I'm not here for your amusement."

Franky raises an eyebrow. "Jeez, that kid's gonna curse like a seasoned sailor from the moment it starts talking, growin' up on this ship."

"Indeed. My very ears are burning, or they would be, if I had-"

"Oi, Chopper, quit poking so goddamn hard!"

"Sorry, sorry," the doctor apologizes distractedly, backing up a bit and transforming to Heavy Point so he's able to palpate the swordsman's stomach more gently. He quickly locates what now feels like a papaya-sized lump just on the other side of the abdominal wall and frowns when the older pirate flinches again. "I'm a little concerned that you're so-"

To everyone's surprise, the reindeer suddenly gives a loud squeak of surprise that seems extremely out of place coming from his much larger form and flails backwards, stumbling into the unoccupied chair behind him and landing on the floor with a thump. "W-Wha-?"

"What the hell do you expect, with your frickin' hooves jabbing at it?" Zoro snorts, rubbing gingerly at his side. "Kid doesn't like being poked any more than I do."

Nami's eyes widen enormously with realization, her tone incredulous. "Are you serious? Did it really just-?"

"He or she's been moving around for a while now," Luffy laughs, hugging the older pirate's shoulders so tightly that he grunts in protest. He leans forward to rest his hands on his lover's belly, tucking his chin against the swordsman's collarbone. "Zoro's been really grumpy 'cause it keeps waking him up."

"It's your fault, idiot. You won't let either of us sleep because you keep poking at me trying to make the damn brat move."

"Zoro!"

"What the hell else am I supposed to call it, Nami? Yeah, we talked names, but we don't know its sex yet, and calling it the wrong thing would be really stupid. If it's a guy, I don't want it getting all gender-confused like Ero-cook over there."

"Ha. That's rich, coming from you, shitty swordsman."

Luffy hums thoughtfully in the older pirate's ear. "Well, we don't know if it's a girl or a boy, and we still don't know how I knocked up Zoro in the first place, so... it's a mystery baby. Let's call it MB for short!"

"I'm not calling our kid-"

"Oh, I don't know, I think our captain's onto something," Sanji interrupts as he emerges from the kitchen with a large steaming pot held in oven mitt-covered hands, kicking aside the limb that Luffy immediately flings in his direction. "That makes me think of lots of things to do with you guys. Like Marimo Boy. Or Meat Bo- get your dirty fingers out of there, shitty Gomu!"

"Why didn't you tell me you were feeling fetal movement?" Chopper demands from where he's still sitting on the floor, yanking Zoro's trouser leg to get the swordsman's attention. "That's really important!"

"Look, I didn't know for sure- it's not like I've done this before." In reality, it's been just another thing, like the names, that Zoro's been hoping to keep private between himself and Luffy as long as possible. He's surprised either secret's lasted this long, considering the captain's tendency to accidentally blurt out personal information on a ship where everybody always seems to know everyone else's business. "I thought it might've been the cook's shitty food giving me indigestion."

"-might be further along than I thought-"

"Watch your mouth, asshole. There's nothing wrong with my-"

"Sanji-kun, Sanji-kun, were you listening? They said it's actually moving!"

The cook, placing the dish on the table, nearly slops stew down the front of his suit when Nami, who can no longer contain herself, unexpectedly flings both arms around his neck and plants a huge smacking kiss on his cheek before bounding away. "I can't wait to tell Robin!"

"Oi-" Zoro protests weakly, grimacing and waving a hand to fan away the bright pink hearts drifting up from where the love-struck moron's melting into the floorboards. "Oi, Nami, you don't need to-"

"Nami-swan~! She's so adorable when she's cooing over babies! …Even if it's yours."

Chopper, lost in mental calculation, barely notices when their navigator nearly trips over him as she sprints for the open doorway leading to the deck, grabbing the railing to keep from falling over it in her excitement as she shouts to their nakama on the lawn below. "Robin, Usopp! Luffy says Zoro's been snapping at everybody 'cause the baby's kicking!"

"Wha- really?" Usopp's voice calls back. "I wanna feel it move!"

"Zoro will probably break your fingers if you try," Nami yells, "-but you should at least come and take a look at his tummy before he hides it again!"

This time it's Robin who answers, sounding amused. "You mean somebody actually got him out of that coat? We'll be right up."

"Fuck," Zoro groans. "Now look what you guys-"

He breaks off, startled, when Chopper suddenly scrambles to his knees, reaching out to probe his abdomen firmly enough to force a stifled grunt of pain past his clenched teeth, because it feels like the doctor's trying to wrap both hands around his kidneys. The pressure sets off a flurry of activity from the equally alarmed fetus, which has apparently decided it's going to imitate the goddamn eyebrow cook by kicking the daylights out of him.

Thankfully, although the sensation is incredibly bizarre - sort of like there's a live eel performing a tango directly over his bladder - it hurts marginally less than the fingers digging around in his gut. "OW, OW, FUCK! Chopper, give it a rest already!"

Luffy, who's also aware of the wild fluttering because he's still got both palms resting just above where the reindeer's poking and prodding, utters an awed "holy crap" in the swordsman's ear. "Wow, the kid's really pissed!"

The older pirate's actually raising a hand to grab the Zoan by the face in hopes of prying him loose when Chopper eases back on his own, reverting to Brain Point and looking simultaneously elated and terrified as he cranes his head towards the door. "Nami! Nami?"

"What's wrong, Chopper?" The navigator's returned with Usopp stepping on her heels in his haste to join them and a much more sedate historian trailing behind them, and then Sanji staggers upright, dabbing at his bloody nose, and to his great annoyance, Zoro finds himself and the captain surrounded by a small mob of agitated nakama all trying to talk at the same time.

"How far-"

"-this big now, is he gonna look like he swallowed a cannon ball when-?"

"-wonder if that hair's hereditary... Nami-swan, Nami-swan! If you and I had a child, do you think it would be blonde or- OW!"

"-do you feel, Kenshi-san?"

"Oi-" Give me some goddamn space because I feel like you're all suffocating me, he wants to say, but he's distracted by Luffy patting his aching abdomen and gleefully assuring the baby that its crewmates can't wait to meet it, and nobody's listening anyway.

"Nami, how far-?"

"Is it still moving now? Can I-?" Usopp asks eagerly, already spreading his fingers beside the rubber man's before Zoro can tell him to keep his fucking hands to himself. "Ooh, I felt that! Sanji, you gotta-"

"I think I'll pass, thanks," the cook snorts, tucking a fresh toothpick between his teeth as he eyes the swordsman's face, which is growing steadily darker with anger and embarrassment. "And maybe you oughta-"

He nearly inhales his cigarette substitute as the sniper does the unthinkable and actually presses his cheek and ear against the side of Zoro's belly, drawing a murmur of jealous protest from Luffy before the captain's forced to intervene and prevent the infuriated older pirate from strangling their oblivious crewmate.

"Oi, Nami-?"

"USOPP, GET YOUR GODDAMN NOSE OUT OF MY BELLYBUTTON BEFORE I BREAK IT OFF YOUR FACE!"

"Okay, okay! Ow, quit shov- YOW! UNCLEUNCLEUNCLE!"

"-FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"Settle down, Marimo, we get the hint. Usopp, the bump's off-limits and quit your blubbering. Didn't Nami-san just warn you-?"

"NAMI, HOW FAR ARE WE FROM THE NEXT ISLAND?" Chopper roars, going momentarily Heavy Point again as he shouts over the others to be heard, and everyone freezes and turns to stare at him, Sanji and Luffy trying to pry a whimpering Usopp free from Zoro's iron grip on his nose.

The navigator glances at the pose strapped around her wrist. "As long as the weather holds, we should reach it in the next day or so. Why, what's the hurry? I know we're running a little low on food supplies, but we've got more than enough to reach port, right, Sanji?"

"Of course, Nami-san. Even taking into account the special ingredients and extra portions for you and Robin-chan and numb-nuts here, nobody's going to go hungry anytime soon."

Zoro relinquishes his hold on the relieved sniper to jab the cook in the ribs, scowling up at him. "Don't call me numb-nuts, shithead."

"I'd rather not feed you at all," Sanji growls, "-but women and children eat first. As soon as you pop, Marimo, you're going right back to getting the same burnt scraps I give these other bastards. Fine cooking's totally wasted on-"

"So this next island's occupied with people, and not just an empty rock covered with giant bugs?" Chopper interrupts, prompting a brief exclamation of protest from Luffy because he doesn't understand why everyone else is still making such a fuss. Try to catch one little beetle and-

"Yes, supposedly it's got a decent-sized city, which means there may also be a Marine outpost nearby. We'll have to make this a very discrete-" Nami pinches the captain's cheek and yanks on it forcefully, interrupting his studious nose-picking. "-DISCRETE stop. If my information's correct, the log pose should only take a few hours to set, so you and Zoro can stay here. I will take care of the shopping."

Sanji beams. "I'll gladly chauffeur Nami-swan!"

"No, you're going to stay and watch the ship, because I want those two kept out of sight. Their faces are too well known and we've already had enough trouble with their bounties drawing unwanted attention. And since Zoro can't fight..."

"Only 'cause HE won't let me," the swordsman grumbles, poking a finger at Chopper. "I told you, I'm-"

"Great, the last place I possibly want to be. Stuck here with both of you…"

"Actually, Zoro can't stay on the ship. He needs to come with me." The doctor cringes at the sight of the navigator's furrowing brow. "I'm sorry! I've been relying on standard manual examinations because I don't have the type of equipment that's needed for anything more in-depth, but I can't afford to make a mistake, especially not now!"

"Go on…"

"All my calculations have been based on guesses, because there's absolutely no case histories regarding this sort of thing. I was initially hoping Zoro would develop some sort of rudimentary uterus-"

Sanji's low snickering dissolves into muttered curses as he's punched repeatedly in the hip.

"-doesn't seem to be the case, and the most similar situation I can find is ectopic pregnancy, which means the fetus is growing directly inside his abdominal cavity, and that would explain why I can feel the head and arms and legs so easily when I'm manipulating him, because there's no uterine walls and either no or very little amniotic fluid to provide a cushion."

"So that's what you were doing. I thought you were trying to tear out my spleen or something."

"The pain's another reason why I suspect that this isn't so straight-forward as I was hoping. Mild discomfort - sometimes even severe discomfort for short periods - is normal, but he nearly goes through the roof whenever I touch him, even if I use the slightest amount of pressure, and I want to know why." They watch as the doctor paces a bit, his nose wrinkled with distress. "And if we can get access to a decent medical center, I can also confirm where the placenta's attached."

He reaches out to tap the swordsman's belly, nodding to himself when Zoro automatically flinches away from his hoof. "I don't want you fighting because, depending on where implantation occurred, too much strain on your body could tear the tissue loose and cause internal hemorrhaging. I need to know if the placenta's attached to one or more organs, the abdominal wall or somewhere else."

"Alright," Nami sighs. "I suppose there's no helping it then, but you'll have to get him checked out and back to the ship as soon as possible."

"Yosh," Luffy agrees, one hand squeezing the older pirate's shoulder. "Chopper and I will-"

"Not you, just Zoro and Chopper. You're staying where Sanji can keep an eye on you."

"I'm going with Zoro."

"Luffy-"

"If Zoro's going, then I'm going too! 'Cause I don't get half of what Chopper just said, but if he thinks Zoro or my kid might be in trouble, I can't not go." The captain insists, eyes flashing as he folds his arms across his chest, and when Nami continues protesting, he sets his jaw and glares at her.

Zoro, who's been quietly panicking at the thought of being dragged somewhere public where he's sure to have more people staring at him and possibly trying to touch him, feels a flood of relief when the rubber man digs his heels in and refuses to be swayed by logic and threats alike. Luffy's already been downright adamant about being included in every one of the swordsman's check-ups, and although he's not keen on admitting that he's getting nervous, especially with Chopper so concerned about possible complications, the older pirate doesn't like the idea of going to an appointment in an unfamiliar setting without that support.


	5. Chapter 5

Brook and Usopp rush off to the shopping district as soon as they've finished helping lower Sunny's anchor, the sniper to find more gunpowder and the skeleton in search of replacement guitar strings.

The harbor seems relatively quiet and their Jolly Roger doesn't draw any unusual attention, but they leave Sanji onboard anyway. The cook scrawls down a rather lengthy shopping list which he reluctantly turns over to Nami, who glances at it briefly before tucking the parchment into her jeans and shooting down his last ditch attempts to join her.

She insists on accompanying Chopper, Zoro and Luffy to deal with the billing and bringing Franky along as well - the navigator claims it's in case they run into trouble, but the cyborg grumbles that he's just her second choice as pack mule since the doctor's told her she can't make the swordsman carry the groceries - and then Robin offers a few extra sets of eyes, so in the end, what's supposed to be a two-person outing evolves into a six-person mission.

xxx

Chopper's relieved to discover that the city's health center is fairly modern and equipped with far more advanced medical devices than anything he's had access to on the Sunny. Most small town facilities and even his mentor's accommodations are downright primitive compared to this, although he privately thinks that only makes Dr. Kureha even more amazing for working so well with what little she's got.

It's a little strange though, because the closer they get to the end of the Grand Line, the more technologically advanced the islands seem to be, and he can't help wondering what they're going to find on Raftel, especially considering what Franky's told him in private about Dr. Vegapunk's old laboratory.

They run into some difficulties at the desk, because the receptionist - the reindeer's slightly boggled and a little jealous that they've actually got one since he's been long accustomed to his nakama just strolling into his infirmary and helping themselves over his stringent protests - won't let him use their equipment or even acknowledge that he's actually a doctor, claiming she's never heard of Drum Island or the Isshi-20.

They argue for nearly ten minutes before Luffy's patience finally wears thin, and the rubber man whips an arm past the desk to grab a passing doctor, hauling the hapless man over to them and insistently rather loudly that, if they won't let Chopper mess around with the funny gadgets with the blinking lights, he needs to examine their pregnant crewmate.

Not surprisingly, the physician misses the masculine pronoun that the Straw Hat captain assigns to this statement, because he's glancing rather confusedly between Nami, who's turning a bright shade of pink, and Robin, who's holding up both palms in denial and trying not to laugh, when Luffy grabs his hand and pushes it insistently against the firm swelling concealed by Zoro's coat.

The swordsman promptly hurls his lover into the nearest wall, cursing the younger pirate colorfully and at length as he reaches for Wado's hilt, and Nami realizes too late that no one, including herself, thought to insist that he leave his weapons behind on the Sunny.

"When I said no lifting over twenty pounds, that included flinging around crewmates," Chopper mutters, although he supposes that he shouldn't be surprised, considering how many other times he's scolded Zoro for weight training or undoing his neatly wrapped bandages when he's supposed to be convalescing after a fight. At least the swordsman's taking his concerns somewhat seriously; no one had to pry his fingers off the anchor capstan when they docked earlier this afternoon, although he'd still hovered in the doorway offering advice to his straining, puffing nakama until Sanji lost his temper and snapped something about back seat steersmen.

"Our apologies," Robin tells the flustered doctor as Franky restrains their raging crewmate and Luffy peels himself free with much ado because he's been thrown hard enough to produce a sizeable body-shaped crater in the plaster. "He's a bit sensitive about his condition."

"U-Understandable." The middle-aged physician's encountered some oddities during his career, but he's learned that there's almost always something weirder waiting right around the corner. At least he'll have an interesting story to share around the staff table tomorrow, if the angry pregnant guy with the swords doesn't make mince meat out of him first.

After a bit of negotiation, he concedes to allow Chopper to join them in the examination room, and Zoro reluctantly agrees to leave his blades in the lobby with Franky and the women.

xxx

For a long time, they sit in silence broken only by the rustle of papers from the receptionist's desk and the periodic flutter of Robin turning and smoothing another page in the text she's brought with her. Franky, who hates inactivity almost as much as their captain, plays with his nose until Nami hits him with her armload of swords, snarling that she's sick of listening to the robotic monotone that accompanies his hair springing free.

"Don't let Zoro catch you doing that," Robin murmurs to the navigator as she reaches the final paragraph and closes her book, a slightly regretful expression crossing her face because if she'd correctly anticipated the length of the visit, she'd have brought more reading material.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

The historian's eyeing a nearby bookcase, wondering if she'll have enough time to get through one of the shorter volumes - they're not likely to let her borrow one, and she hates leaving a book unfinished - when there's an enormous crash.

Franky, who's been experimenting with how far he can tilt his seat back and still maintain his balance, hits the floor with a muffled curse and nearly sends Nami flying with one oversized forearm. The cyborg springs to his feet, kicking the flattened remains of his chair away. "Whoa, what the-"

The sound of furniture colliding with the walls is followed by a loud yelp and voices raised in alarm.

"Zoro, put him down!"

"Listen, I'm telling you the truth! Please don't kill m-!"

A grunt of pain and a body falling to the floor. "I've had enough of this fucking bullshit! Both of you, come on, we're getting out of here."

The door across the room bursts open as Zoro slams through it violently enough to tear it loose from the hinges. The swordsman stalks out to join them, his face livid as he ignores the hysterically babbling Zoan following closely on his heels and trying to grab the hem of his coat.

"Zoro, what-" Nami's mouth drops open as she watches Luffy, his face pinched with concern, picking his way around the overturned examination table and several broken stools. The captain spares a backwards glance for the man cowering on the floor with both hands clasped over his bleeding mouth and nose, but he doesn't say anything.

"Get up. We're leaving," the older pirate growls as he rips his bundle of swords out of the navigator's arms, slipping the sheaths into his sash and cinching it so tightly across his stomach that she flinches, but he doesn't seem to notice, already striding for the exit and dragging their own doctor behind him.

"Oi, is that guy okay?" Franky asks nervously, squinting at the injured man. "He just either passed out or died- I can't tell which."

"Luffy, Chopper, what is going-"

"We better get out of here," Luffy mutters, grabbing her arm and nodding his chin towards the front desk, where the terrified receptionist is shouting at her equally alarmed-looking Den Den Mushi.

They find Zoro and Chopper outside, drawing startled glances from passersby because the swordsman is shouting angrily at the reindeer, who's resorted to Heavy Point and grabbed him by the coat collar to prevent him from disappearing into the crowd.

Nami drags them all down the nearest alley, away from prying eyes, and stops Zoro dead in his tracks with a hand braced on his chest when he immediately attempts to storm back out, jabbing a finger into his scowling face. "Now, somebody tell me just what the hell is going on! You were told we needed to keep a low profile, unless you're actually trying to bring the Marines down on us! Is that what you want?"

The older pirate clenches his jaw as he grinds his teeth together, nostrils flaring, refusing to answer her question as he shoves her away hard enough to make her stumble. "Get your goddamn hands off me!"

"Why you-"

"Nami, don't!" Chopper cries, catching the navigator's wrist as she reacts automatically, her hand flying up to slap Zoro's face. Ignoring her startled oath, he whirls back towards the swordsman. "Zoro, you heard what that doctor said! You need to calm down!"

"He's not likely to do so with everyone shouting at him." Robin nudges them gently but firmly away, opening a gap that Luffy immediately squeezes into, molding his body against the older pirate's as he wraps both arms around him.

The other man tenses, looking for a moment like he's going to protest, but then he exhales forcefully and raises both hands to pull his captain into a tight hug, burying his face in Luffy's hair. Nami's animosity fades, replaced by chagrin when she sees that her nakama's fingers are trembling where they're knotted in the back of the rubber man's vest.

"I-I'm sorry- I wasn't thinking."

Zoro lifts his head to regard her silently over Luffy's shoulder, and she's startled at how tired the swordsman looks now that he's no longer aiming death glares at everyone and everything in sight.

"Guys, please, what happened in-"

"Oi, we've got company," Franky calls softly from where he's standing near the alley's mouth, peering cautiously around the corner. "Robin?"

"One moment." The historian closes her eyes, concentrating. "Marines, but only a few men and- we're in luck; they seem to believe it was a simple altercation over money. If we leave this area quickly and quietly, we should be able to avoid drawing further attention to ourselves."

"Okay, let's-" Nami glances back to find Zoro and Luffy already heading further down the alley, the captain's hand resting on the older pirate's lower back as they walk side by side. "Ah, wait up!"

She hurries after them with Chopper close behind her, both of them flanked by Franky and Robin, the cyborg guiding the historian and preventing her from stumbling into the buildings on either side as she concentrates on ensuring they're not being followed.

xxx

"The doctor wanted to admit him," Chopper mumbles, avoiding the navigator's eyes as she stares across the table at him. "Nami, please, it's not really my place to talk about this if they don't want it discussed."

"I know, but-" She glances over her shoulder at the group seated behind them, watching with unease as their captain completely ignores the menu that Robin's perusing in favor of cajoling Zoro into sipping some water. "Luffy's scaring me, and if whatever you were told is really that serious, I think the rest of the crew needs to know. We're nakama, aren't we?"

"Nami..." Chopper takes a deep breath, scrubs moisture from the corners of his eyes. "I'm sorry, but I-"

"Go ahead and tell her," Zoro mutters without turning around, and it's the first he's spoken since snapping at the navigator back in the alley. "They'll find out soon enough anyway, if that guy's right and I keel over in the middle of the lawn deck."

"He said WHAT?" Nami whirls in her chair, horrified, but the swordsman ignores her, rubbing the side of his head and glaring back at Luffy's scowling face because the rubber man's just boxed him in the ear.

"Zoro shouldn't say stuff like that," the captain grumbles, shoving the glass at him vehemently enough to slosh water over the rim. "That guy was a jerk, and he didn't know what he was talking about. And he doesn't know Zoro."

"He sure sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Even if he was an asshole."

"I don't care, I didn't like him!" Luffy swivels around to address Nami, whose expression is now warring between worry and curiousity. "He kept using really big words and staring at me and Zoro like we were stupid when we asked him to repeat himself."

The older pirate snorts, flicking wet fingers at him. "You just pissed him off because you kept ignoring him and asking Chopper every time you had a question."

"I didn't wanna ask that guy anything! Chopper's a million times better and he's OUR doctor!" The indignant pride in the captain's voice leaves the reindeer squirming in his chair and biting his lower lip to keep from telling them that he doesn't appreciate compliments from assholes. "And he doesn't act like my questions are dumb, even though he's a lot smarter and knows a lot more stuff than me."

"DON'T ASK ME ANY MORE QUESTIONS, YOU BASTARD! I HATE ANSWERING THEM!"

Nami chuckles as she pats the blushing doctor's head, relieved to see that her crewmates are grinning as well. "Now what's this about keeling over on the lawn deck?"

Luffy and Zoro exchange a cynical look, and Chopper clears his throat. "Ah, well-"

"That stupid Doctor-ossan thinks Zoro's gonna rupture something and bleed to death." Luffy scowls. "I tried to tell him Zoro's really, really strong, but he wouldn't believe me."

The younger pirate brushes his fingertips down the scar sealing the swordsman's left eye, traces the older flaw across his chest with such reverence that their embarrassed crewmates glance elsewhere, with the exception of Robin, who merely smiles as she cradles her coffee cup in both hands. "Zoro's gotten sliced up and stabbed and shot and even tried to cut his own feet off, and he's still here, right?"

"He does seem to have more blood than anyone I've ever met, considering how much trouble he's got keeping it where it belongs," Nami muses, resting her chin on her arms where they're crossed over the back of her chair.

"I know you guys don't want to hear it, but it's a real concern." Chopper sighs as his protest produces identical scowls. "I'd be a lot less worried if the placenta was anchored directly to the abdominal wall, but according to that scan, it's attached to both the jejunum and ileum and their surrounding mesentery."

"Err-"

"Ah, sorry, those would be parts of the lower intestine." The doctor clarifies, and Franky nearly drops his bottle of cola.

"Jeez, th-that just ain't right."

"Yeah," Zoro mutters, "-so they both got worked up 'cause the kid's apparently all tangled up in my guts or something. That's what they said, anyway, but it just looked like a whole bunch of shadowy blobs to me."

Luffy's face brightens with excitement as he turns back to the navigator. "But Chopper's really good at reading those things! He was pointing out stuff on the screen, like this weird little blip that he said was the baby's heart beating, and-"

The older pirate sets his glass down with a sharp clack and the younger pirate flinches, smiling fading. "Uhm, and then Zoro kinda broke the Ultrasound Den Den Mushi when he tried to kill the doctor..."

Momentarily distracted by the bizarre mental image of her crewmate with a snail crawling back and forth across his belly, Nami blinks in confusion at the way the tension's suddenly returned, thicker than ever. "What-"

"I wanted to hit him too, but Zoro got him first," the captain declares sullenly, color rising in his face, and she's alarmed to see tears welling in the younger pirate's eyes before he's pulled into Zoro's rough embrace and buries his face against the swordsman's neck.

"This is why I didn't want to discuss this in front of them," Chopper murmurs unhappily, motioning for Nami and others to join him as he abandons his chair and retreats to another seat out of earshot.

"What the hell did that asshole say to them?" Franky demands quietly, his hands balling into fists where they're resting on the table.

The doctor, eyes locked on the other table where Zoro's trying to calm their unhappy captain despite his own obvious distress, sighs. "He told us there's almost no chance of Zoro carrying to term without a serious hemorrhage, and when Luffy tried to argue with him, h-he wasn't very sympathetic. He recommended an immediate laparotomy."

"Isn't it still way too early for-?"

"Viable preterm's considered from thirty-four to thirty-six weeks, and the development visible on the scan only puts him around twenty-three weeks. And even if I put him on bed rest for the next two and a half, three months, there's no guarantee that the f- the baby won't have problems." The doctor can't bring himself to use the clinical term, not after witnessing the stunned amazement on his nakama's faces at seeing their offspring for the first time, blurred grainy image or not.

"Shit."

"I don't know," Nami says slowly, determined to remain optimistic. "I mean, Luffy's right, this is Zoro we're talking about."

"That's what I said too, but that doctor didn't want to hear it." Chopper mutters, glaring down at his hooves. "He- he told Luffy that he better decide who's more important - Zoro or the baby - because he said refusing to terminate the pregnancy's going to kill them both."

"That's-"

"What the fuck?"

The reindeer nods miserably. "Luffy turned white as a sheet, and Zoro- Zoro- well, that's when he starting throwing things and threatening to break that man's neck..."

"Damn doctors are always telling me shit I don't want to hear. That's why I fucking hate check-ups."

They all glance up to find the swordsman standing beside their new table with one arm draped around their sniffling captain's shoulders.

"Zoro..."

"I'm going back to the ship for a nap," Zoro announces, nudging Luffy towards them. "Do me a favor and feed him before he implodes."

"I'm not hungry," the rubber man argues, although his protest is nearly drowned out by the whining rumble that his stomach emits. He latches onto the older pirate's coat collar and pulls him closer until they're touching, his lover's curved belly pressing firmly against his own flat one through the layers of fabric between them. "I wanna go with Zoro."

"You'll keep me awake, making all those weird noises and- mmph," he grunts as he's kicked hard enough that Luffy feels it faintly too, and they both glance down. "See, the kid agrees. It's two against one, so go eat something and help Franky carry all that shit the eyebrow cook wants."

Their crewmates are watching, but he kisses the captain's scowling mouth anyway, and it's worth the embarrassment because the younger pirate is finally smiling again when he draws back.

"Are you sure? If you don't mind waiting a bit, we could make a side trip, double-check if there's anything else Sanji needs that he didn't write down," Nami offers.

"Or I could go with you, use Walking Point to-"

The swordsman waves a dismissing hand. "Nah, I'd rather walk, try to clear my head without you guys hanging all over me and talking my ear off. I'll be fine. The dock's right on the other side of that street."

Luffy slides a hand into his coat and down the side of his haramaki to cup his stomach, thumb stroking warm bare skin. He peers skeptically up at the older pirate. "Zoro's gonna walk really slow and find somewhere to sit down if he gets tired, promise?"

"Okay, I prom- oi!" His expression is one of bemused exasperation beneath the brim of the straw hat that's just been plunked unceremoniously on his head, and he rakes it free, running a hand through his hair and aiming a halfhearted glare at the navigator and historian as they exchange a knowing look.

"Take Hat with you. And don't get lost, okay?"

"Of course I won't, idiot. I'll see you later," Zoro mutters, giving a tight squeeze before he pries the younger man's clinging arms loose and heads for the door with one hand resting lightly on Wado's hilt and the captain's hat dangling from the fingers of the other.

"Tell Sanji we'll bring back that stuff he wants!" Luffy calls after him. "And that I said hi!"

"Sure, I'm sure the curly-brow cook will be thrilled to see me," he tosses over his shoulder as he crosses the threshold, sparing one last glance back at his captain's smiling face.

The younger pirate laughs, accepting the menu Franky's waving at him, although his eyes are still glued to his lover's retreating form. It's not until that familiar green hair disappears from sight, lost amidst the crowd outside, that he finally turns his attention to the entries Chopper's trying to point out to him, blissfully unaware that the next time he sees Zoro, he'll find himself cursing his own show of restraint in dealing with the Doctor-ossan, because it might've all turned out differently if he had actually let the swordsman kill the other man.


	6. Chapter 6

When Zoro eventually staggers onto the Sunny's lawn deck, breathing hard through his mouth and nose and mentally berating himself for not accepting Chopper's offer of a ride, he's too exhausted to walk the last few yards to the men's quarters door. He spies Nami and Robin's sun bathing chairs still sitting nearby, and collapsing into one seems like a lot less effort. He drops his captain's hat onto the grass beside him, trailing his fingertips across the woven straw.

_"Don't get lost, okay?"_

"Blasted Sencho- must've- jinxed me."

He's sprawled there, overheated and sweaty from trudging around wearing so many layers on a warm day, struggling to untie the sash holding his coat shut because his swords feel unbelievably heavy strapped against his side, when the dining hall door opens and a blond head pokes out.

Sanji scowls down over the railing at him, gesturing violently with the sudsy frying pan he's clutching. "You know, you could've yelled or something, let me know you weren't some shitty bastard trying to hijack our ship."

"Supposed- to be in the- look out tower," the swordsman pants, cursing weakly because his fingers are shaking too hard to cooperate. "-damn eyebrow-"

Fuck it. He gives up and goes limp on the chair, closing his eye as he lets his head drop back, and thinking he should have made for the bunks anyway. If he's going to pass out, he'd prefer to do so in private, not outside with the stupid ero-cook gawking at him because he positively hates showing weakness in front of Sanji. He's supposed to be stronger than this.

He hears footsteps on the stairs and a few moments later, a shadow falls over him. "You still conscious?"

"No. Go away, asshole."

There's a harsh sigh and a rustle, and Zoro stifles a squawk of surprise as something cool and wet drops onto his face. He lifts a hand, pushing the moist towel up so he can direct a one-eyed glare at the cook, who's frowning down at him disapprovingly.

"Leave me alone, I don't need your help."

"Actually," Sanji mutters, dropping to his knees beside the chair. "-it looks like you do."

Zoro tenses as hands reach towards his middle, but when the cook ignores his apprehension and merely goes to work on the knotted fabric, he bites back the insult hovering on the tip of his tongue and watches the other man in bad-tempered silence.

"Damn, how'd you manage to tie this thing in a fisherman's bend?"

"If you can't get it, just cut the sash," the swordsman grunts noncommittally. "I'll buy another one. Oh yeah, Luffy says I'm 'sposed to tell you that they'll be back with your crap and he says hi."

"Captain's got you truly and utterly whipped. Guess he just needs to get you barefoot and in the kitchen since he covered the other part already," the blond snorts, smirking at the way the other man's already flushed face deepens in color. "But why the hell did he let them send you back by yourself, on foot? I won't even ask how long you were wandering around before you finally found your way back here."

"I needed some time without those idiots fussing over me. It was just a little further than I thought," Zoro grumbles, refusing to admit that he's probably just walked two or three times the distance between the diner and the dock. It's not his fault that this town's goddamn streets all look the same, and he doesn't want to suffer through another tirade about his poor sense of direction.

Unfortunately, it seems he's managed to avoid everyone else hovering around him only to have the last bloody person he wanted to deal with fussing over him. It's downright embarrassing.

"Right, because god forbid I even suggest you get lost finding your way from point A to point B," Sanji agrees dryly, tugging the sash open and carefully lifting the sheathed weapons free, despite the swordsman's ardent protests. "Settle down, I won't drop them. Jeez, you'd think the one on the way's actually kid number four, considering how much you coddle these swords."

The fingers now busily undoing Zoro's coat toggles slip and brush his haramaki-bound belly, cutting short his angry retort that the cook's statement isn't funny, and he shoves Sanji's hands away and scoots upright in the chair. "That's enough- don't fucking touch me!"

He's had enough of people poking and prodding at him today, and after all the bullshit that doctor tried to feed them, he just wants to curl up with Luffy and sleep for a few weeks until the confused clatter in his head dies down.

"F-Fine," Sanji stammers, backing away and looking genuinely surprised, because he's been one of the few crewmembers to purposely avoid invading the swordsman's personal space. Just glimpsing Zoro's growing belly kind of freaks him out; he's still trying to wrap his brain around the fact that there's another person, albeit a very small and helpless one, developing in there. So he can't imagine how the other man actually feels, but he's glimpsed the panic that flashes briefly across his nakama's face when less perceptive but well-meaning crewmates insist on squeezing him like they're testing the ripeness of a piece of fruit.

Tugging his coat closed again over his stomach, Zoro lurches to his feet, grimacing as pain twinges somewhere inside his abdomen. It's gone just as quickly, but he can't help glancing down uneasily because of what the doctor - the quack, he reminds himself darkly - said.

He takes a deep breath, ignoring the urge to span both hands across his stomach - he's not entirely comfortable touching himself like that in front of someone other than Luffy, and it won't tell him what's wrong anyway - and glares at the cook, pointing down at his swords. "Oi, grab those for me? And that too."

"Marimo, are you sure you're alright?" Sanji asks as he bundles up the swords, topping them with the straw hat, and rises to his feet, eyeing the other pirate suspiciously. "Did the check-up go okay?"

"Just fuckin' peachy." Zoro snarls, snatching for Luffy's hat and his weapons. "Go flambé something, or whatever the hell it is that you do in that kitchen."

"Can't. No alcohol."

The swordsman snorts and turns away, unaware that he's being closely scrutinized by the cook. He's still extremely tired, but at least he doesn't feel like he's going to black out at any moment now that he's finally caught his breath. "Whatever. I'm going to go lie down for a while. Let Luffy know I'm in the women's quarters when he gets back, and don't believe anything Chopper tries to tell you."

"Oi-"

"Look, don't throw a fucking fit. Nami's not gonna care," he growls, glaring back over his shoulder. "-not after today, anyway. I'll probably be lucky if she and our damn doctor don't tie me to the freaking bed."

"Oi- Zoro-?"

He's so surprised to hear his given name that he forgets to snap. "What?"

"I don't care about the bed thing, if Nami-san's really okay with it- although I think you guys need to ask Franky for your own instead of kicking her and Robin-chan out of their own room all the- no, Marimo, quit it with the one-eyed death beam thing, 'cause that's not really what I wanted to say."

Zoro's glower falters as Sanji abruptly looks away, scuffing at the grass with one well-shined shoe as his face turns brilliantly red, which the swordsman finds incredibly weird and somewhat alarming, because the cook normally only gets like this when there's a woman involved. Last time dartboard brow looked that flustered, he'd been trying to explain to the navigator how he'd somehow ended up with a laundry basket full of her undergarments.

The swordsman still can't make up his mind whether his crewmate wanted them specifically because they were Nami's or because he wanted to wear them. Sanji's been a bit strange since Momoiro Island.

"What the hell are you-"

"Shut up, okay? You mention this to anybody else and I'll deny it and throw you overboard - after that kid's born anyway - but I-I think what you're doing is pretty goddamn amazing. You've got a lot of guts going through with this, and I thought somebody should tell you that."

"I sure as hell didn't see it coming. If I'd ever suspected something like this could happen back when I first met Luffy, I probably would have gutted him on the spot," Zoro says slowly, glancing down the hat in his hand. "But I- well, he's happy, and I guess we've got you idiots looking out for us, so..."

He's still kind of terrified at the prospect of dealing with a kid and definitely uneasy about what's going to happen if Chopper's concerns prove true, but for the first time since he's left the medical center, he's got the feeling that everything's going to be okay. He's got nakama, no, he's got family on the Sunny, and he can do this. Backed by the rest of the crew, even the cook with all his obnoxious bravado and constant teasing, there's no way he and Luffy can fail.

"I-" Wow, this is fucking awkward. "Thanks... Sanji."

"N-No problem."

They stare at each other for a moment.

"Shit, what the hell is this, male bonding?" Sanji finally coughs, looking embarrassed but amused. "Don't worry, Marimo, I'm not gonna ask to hold your hand or hug you or anything."

"Just try it," Zoro laughs, "-and I'll slice you julienne style."

"Shitty smartass swordsman."

They're still grinning at each other and exchanging friendly if rather mean-spirited banter when a deep, unfamiliar voice hails them from the dock below.

"Roronoa Zoro?"

xxx

Luffy won't take back his earlier declaration that Zoro will be fine – his swordsman's proved again and again that he's pretty damn durable if not necessarily invincible – but the captain can't quite escape his uneasy feeling that something is wrong. His sense of discomfort, which surfaced unexpectedly about fifteen minutes ago, is so intense that he actually feels ill, although it could also be due to his inhaling enough meat to satisfy five or six people despite his earlier claim that he wasn't hungry.

He's picking halfheartedly at the remains of Franky's plate, trying to identify the reason behind the tight knot in his stomach and listening to Nami and Robin discussing the most efficient method of locating everything on Sanji's shopping list when the ground shudders violently beneath his feet, throwing the diner and the street outside into chaos.

Nami throws a handful of beli notes and coins onto the table as they hurry for the door, pausing to scoop up Chopper when a series of tremors shakes the building violently enough to send the reindeer staggering sideways into her leg.

"Sounds like explosions, but I sure don't think it's fireworks," Franky mutters, pushing up his sunglasses and frowning at the crowd surrounding them, people stumbling into each other, screaming and shouting in panic as yet another quake forces them to clutch at each other for balance and causes bricks and pieces of masonry to shake loose overhead and rain down.

Cursing in surprise, the cyborg raises both massive arms to shield the others from the falling rumble, grunting as an unseen heavy weight glances off his shoulders, and Luffy dodges unconsciously as part of a steaming rooftop slides past, his wide eyes focused on the sky overhead.

"Z-ZORO!"

"Oi, Mugiwara, wait!" The cyborg shouts, but it's too late; the captain's already gone, running full tilt down the center of the street and knocking people off their feet when they don't move out of his way fast enough. "Shit! Are you guys okay?"

"I think so," Robin coughs, clearing dust from her lungs. "Ah, Nami, you're bleeding."

"Oh my god-" the navigator gasps, struggling upright with Chopper in her arms and ignoring the dampness trickling down the side of her face because she's already seen where their captain's going. "LUFFY!"

"Sencho, wait for us, we're coming with you!"

The rubber man ignores their cries and launches himself over the buildings blocking his view of the harbor, unable to tear his gaze from the enormous billowing cloud of black smoke rising from where they've left the ship. In his panic, he misjudges the distance and clips one calf against a chimney protruding from the roof he's sailing over, and the impact sends him crashing to the ground.

He lands in ankle-deep water, arms flailing, because nearly three-quarters of the dock is gone, scattered in burning heaps like so much kindling, and most of the vessels in the harbor have been reduced to floating wreckage.

For a moment he's relieved, because their ship's still intact, straining against the anchor as it rocks wildly in the surge, but then he gets closer and realizes that the Sunny's burning.

The Adam wood is smoldering, stubbornly resisting the flames, but the sails and Jolly Roger aren't fairing so well, and when Luffy swings onto the lawn deck, colliding with what his dazed mind identifies as a sun chair, he's slow to extricate himself from the heat-twisted frame because he's temporarily paralyzed by the sight of Nami's mikan trees blazing on the upper deck.

A deep ache throbs through his chest because he knows what they mean to the navigator, but he tears his gaze away and sprints towards the bow end of the ship, because while the trees are important, they're also just trees and-

Both the men's and women's quarters are deserted, beds and bunks alike unoccupied and either still neatly made or filled with crumpled but empty sheets. There's no one in the kitchen, and when he shoves open the door to the aquarium bar, a fish flops out past his sandals because the entire tank has ruptured, littering the tiles with glass and limp strands of kelp.

Luffy's brain is still trying to process the fact that there's no water, just a few solitary puddles, as he continues searching, now frantically shouting Zoro and Sanji's names as he searches the rest of the ship. He knows Franky's told them the tank holds a few thousand gallons, but it's just- gone.

Every window in the library is shattered, the floor scattered with burning pages, and when the captain dashes into the bathhouse, slapping distractedly at the embers trying to ignite the seat of his shorts, he finds the room full of scalding steam from the ruptured water pipes and the ofuro completely empty.

The entire ship is filled with the same hot burning stink, an odor that seems vaguely recognizable, although he's too agitated to place it, not even noticing when he gashes one forearm in the process of rocketing himself out the broken window up onto the crows nest. The metal floor's too hot to walk on, and there's hissing and popping noises coming from the damaged megaphone, but there's no one here either.

Usopp's room and the docking system are equally empty, and he doesn't get more than a few steps into Franky's development room before turning back, because the entire room - which is lined floor to ceiling with metal plating - is glowing like a furnace. There's also things exploding in there, and he's forced to duck to prevent an oversized cog from decapitating him when it whistles by his head.

But there's no reply to his shouting, which is rising in volume as he returns to the main deck, and he's forced to conclude that neither of them are on the ship. He's torn between relief and terror, because he's hoping desperately that maybe they weren't here when it - whatever it is - happened, but his gut instinct tells him otherwise, so he leans over the rail and starts scanning the wreckage surrounding the ship.

His heart nearly comes to a standstill when he recognizes the shapes of several bodies floating nearby, surrounded by hazy red clouds, but none of them have green or blond hair.

The thought occurs to Luffy that they could be trapped under the ship as well as alongside it, and he's seconds away from jumping overboard when Chopper arrives at a gallop, Walking Point hooves skidding crazily as he finds himself skirting the edge of an enormous crater in the earth beside the dock.

"Don't go in the water, you idiot!" Nami screams, throwing herself free from the reindeer's neck as soon as he's sliding to a halt and racing for the rope ladder, knowing she's going to reach the rubber man too late, but then Robin - still seated on Chopper's back - summons an array of arms that restrain the captain and transfer him to the relative safety of the dock.

"Let go!" Luffy growls, struggling, and the navigator shoots him an exacerbated look as she kicks off her sandals, cursing her luck at being surrounded by anchors, because Franky still hasn't caught up with them.

"Stay here, damn it! Even if they're down there, you'll drown too trying to bring them up!"

"I don't care! Let- go!"

The historian winces, involuntarily losing control of her extra limbs as the younger pirate's teeth sink into the forearm wrapped around his neck, and she steels herself as she raises both arms again, determined to hang on this time even if she's bitten again, but to her relief Luffy doesn't try to follow when Nami dives into the water.

Robin lets him go and turns her focus inwards, intending to search the inside of the Sunny even though she's sure he's already done so, but there's too much heat and smoke and the ship isn't quite as she last saw it, so she's forced to give up, blinking her stinging watery eyes.

"Where are they?" Chopper asks fearfully, reverting to Brain Point after the older woman slides from his back. "They wouldn't have left the ship..."

Luffy stalks past them, muttering under his breath as he paces the dock, face twisted with fear and anger and confusion. He's edging closer to where the dock ends in jagged timbers, trying to catch a glimpse of anything but floating debris and dark water, when his foot strikes something that clatters and rolls away. He crouches, brow furrowing in mystification as he stretches trembling fingers towards it.

"Sencho, what did you-" The historian freezes as he turns his head to look at her, fixing her with enormous horrified eyes that demand she tell him it's a mistake, and Robin doesn't protest when Chopper whimpers and clutches at her, even though his hooves are pinching her leg through her skirt.

"Nothing!" Nami gasps as her head breaks the surface, treading water and pushing her wet hair out of her face. "There's nothing down-"

When the sound reaches her ears, she hauls herself from the water in a panic, expecting to find a sea king bearing down on them, because she doesn't recognize the cry of despair bursting from Luffy's throat as human in origin, much less identifiable as the younger pirate's voice. Instead, she finds their captain howling into the smoke-filled sky as he kneels on the splintered dock, blood dripping from his lacerated fingers where they're clutching the jagged remains of Wado's shattered blade and partially melted hilt.


	7. Chapter 7

Nami isn't sure whether to feel relieved or concerned when Luffy - who finally stops howling when he realizes he's getting blood all over Wado - doesn't immediately bolt off in search of whoever's attacked the ship and their nakama but simply collapses into a sitting position, staring dumbly at his injured hands.

He blinks at her approach with cloudy shocked eyes, trying to wipe the broken sword clean on his vest front, and doesn't speak as she drops down beside him.

But when she tries to gently pry the hilt from the younger pirate's fingers, afraid that he's going to accidentally stab himself in the chest, the teary-eyed rubber man bares his teeth at her, so she lets him keep it and settles for slinging an arm tightly around his shoulders and leaning her forehead against his cheek as she struggles to keep her own distress under control.

Franky rushes onto the dock moments later, his shouting cut abruptly short at the sight of the devastation. The cyborg slows to a walk and stares up at the vessel he's poured his heart and soul into and that's been their only real home since departing Water Seven, tears welling in his eyes, but when he sees the small despondent group surrounding their shivering captain, he turns his back on the Sunny and joins them.

"We should do something about the ship," Robin murmurs as she strokes Chopper's bowed head, looking over to meet Nami's eyes, and the navigator nods in silent agreement but neither of them moves from where they're huddled on either side of Luffy, until Usopp and Brook appear, running as fast as they can and shrieking at them to explain what the hell's going on.

At the historian's faltering words, the sniper falls to his hands and knees beside them, and the musician solemnly removes his hat.

"Luffy-san, I-"

Something explodes noisily inside the ship, and everyone flinches in surprise.

"I think-" Franky mutters, removing his sunglasses to swipe his forearm across his wet face. "I think that was Channel Two."

Their captain takes a ragged breath. "Somebody go put out the fire."

No one moves, and when Luffy lifts his head, his eyes aren't quite as unfocused. "Franky, Usopp, go take care of the ship. We don't have anywhere else to go."

"Mugiwara..."

"Luffy, what about-"

Barking a choked order for his distraught crew to stop badgering him and concentrate on extinguishing the Sunny before it's consumed by the fire ravaging its decks, Luffy staggers to his feet and pushes away from them, swaying slightly.

He refuses to let Chopper bandage his bleeding hands until he's thoroughly combed the wreckage for every last shard of Kuina's katana that he can find. His determined searching also uncovers Kitetsu and Shuusui, their edges now dull and chipped. Shuusui is bent nearly in half.

"Zoro will want them back and we'll just find somebody to fix them," he mutters when Brook asks him what he's doing, and the skeleton doesn't have the heart to tell him that even if they take the damaged weapons to a tradesman skilled enough to re-forge them, they won't really be the same blades. He suspects the younger pirate already knows this.

Franky, maneuvering the floating wreckage of a smaller ship closer to their own to use as a platform from which to combat the flames, utters a shout of disbelief when he finds Sanji's battered body half-buried amidst the split timbers. The cook is burned and bloodied and only semi-conscious, but he insists on speaking with their captain before he'll allow his wounds to be treated.

"Stupid stubborn bastards," Nami whispers thoughtlessly, and it sounds so much like something that their swordsman might say that she bursts into tears.

"Listen," Sanji chokes, fist gripping the collar of Luffy's vest and yanking him closer until they're almost touching noses. "Marines ambushed us- took Marimo-"

The cook coughs explosively, blood spraying from his lips, but the captain doesn't flinch as it spatters his face.

"Which Admiral?" He demands, nostrils flaring, even though something inside him already knows the answer, because there's very few people capable of surviving a match with his swordsman much less abducting him, even if Zoro's not quite in top fighting form right now.

"T-Two of them."

Chopper is tugging tearfully at their arms, demanding that they stop talking because he's convinced Sanji has a punctured lung, but they both ignore him, the blond fighting the darkness stealing into his vision because he's determined to tell Luffy what the younger pirate needs to know before he passes out. "-that g-guy with the glasses from Sabaody- and some huge t-tattooed asshole I've never seen before with-"

Huge glowing fists, he's about to say, but the expression of undiluted rage that sweeps over his nakama's face tells him that the younger man already knows the second Admiral's identity.

"Akainu," Luffy snarls, pupils constricting to pinpoints as he finally recognizes the odor that's been haunting him since he first started searching the burning ship. It's the same smell of volcanic sulfur and brimstone that lingered in his nostrils after Marineford, where he lost someone else he loved to the magma man's wrath.

His control snaps then, and his crewmates watch in stunned silence as he lays waste to the dock's remains, until Franky - following Nami's fearful urging that somebody do something before their captain inadvertently causes more damage to either himself or the Sunny - knocks him into the harbor with a cautiously applied fist.

The younger pirate's much calmer after the cyborg and Usopp fish him out, quietly accepting the slightly squashed but otherwise unharmed straw hat that Robin passes him, his head bowed as he listens to her softly spoken explanation of how she found it caught and fluttering on a bent nail nearby.

The sight of Shank's hat in his hand turns Luffy's stomach, because he'd gladly trade it for the far more significant treasure that's been stolen from his grasp.

xxx

The log pose resets itself that evening, but no one broaches the subject of setting out for the next island, because they're all aware that Sunny's not going anywhere and their captain - perched on the ship's figurehead and staring forlornly at the horizon, where the sinking sun's reflected on the calm water - is, for once in his life, looking back instead of forward.

xxx

Several miles away, on a Marine vessel where chore boys are lighting lamps against the coming night and exchanging awed whispers regarding the distinguished visitors and their notorious prisoner, two of the most powerful military men in the world exchange private words behind the locked and heavily guarded door of the ship's brig.

"I thought somebody was pulling my leg when the order came down, but it looks like it's true. Goddamn pirates. It's bad enough we've still got Level Six escapees on the loose two years after that fiasco with Teach, and now this?" A heavy boot nudges the unconscious swordsman's belly, and the two men watch as their captive curls reflexively into a defensive ball, uttering a faint groan of protest.

"Oooh, I suppose it's a bit unusual," Kizaru muses, stroking his chin. "-but stranger things have happened, and their crew's certainly developed a reputation for doing the unexpected."

"Exactly, which is why I still say we should kill him now, before this blows up in our faces."

"Now, now, are you suggesting we disobey a direct order? The World Government wants Roronoa alive. At least until he's no longer needed, anyway, and judging by his current appearance, we shouldn't have long to wait." He adjusts his glasses, eyeing the shorter Admiral. "You nearly jeopardized our mission, you know, trying to punch him like that. It's a good thing that blond man got in the way."

"I wasn't expecting him to pull that Kyutoryu stunt. It's surprising he still had that much fight in him, considering how exhausted he looked when we tracked him back to his ship- but the bloody bastard actually nicked me."

"Ah-ah, Akainu- don't do that. It's not polite to kick a pregnant wo- man? Oooh, I'm not quite sure of the proper idiom in the given situation."

"I'm surprised at you, getting sentimental over-"

"Don't be ridiculous. But if you break a hatching egg, you run the risk of damaging the chick inside, correct? We both know they insisted I tag along to protect their investment because they don't trust your temper, especially in regards to the Mugiwara pirates."

"Bunch of fools," Akainu sneers, but he lowers his foot. "We should've ordered a Buster Call as soon as they received the positive identification from that clinic."

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times- while they consider Monkey D. Luffy a dangerous future element, the World Government is more concerned with the whereabouts of his father, and this-" Kizaru taps his heel lightly on the swordsman's hip. "-may be the opportunity they've been waiting for, if the news lures him into revealing his current location."

"They can't seriously be expecting Dragon to give a damn about where his son spends his seed. I think it's clear the man views his own boy as nothing more than a pawn of the Revolutionary Army, just like a typical-"

"Oooh, but what better pawn will he find than his own grandchild? The issue of two ridiculously powerful Supernovas, both of which have proven themselves quite adept at causing the World Nobles such an ongoing headache? Besides, if Sengoku's theory is correct, that child could be another D, and although Garp's family tends toward male offspring, I don't need to tell you the fairer sex could be equally problematic. Just look at Nico Robin, hmm?"

"Enough with your long-winded mumbling- it takes you forever to say what's on your mind." The muscular man kneels to rattle the thick chain links holding Roronoa's hands behind his back, checking that they're secure for the fifth time since they dragged the insensate swordsman into the cell. "Garp- demoted or not, that old man's going to be a problem. Hasn't been quite right since I exterminated Roger's brat, and he's still far too interested in matters that shouldn't concern him."

_Like that upstart who stepped out of line and challenged me at Marineford two years ago_, the Admiral deliberates darkly. He's well aware that Garp's maintained contact with Coby following the completion of the younger Marine's Haki training.

"And that would be why Roronoa's condition needs to remain classified until we reach our destination." Kizaru sighs, shaking his head as he glances towards the cell's fourth occupant. "Some people are just far too nosy for their own good. If you would be so kind as to drop that body overboard on your way out, I will re-stress the importance that the petty officers not disobey orders to steal a quick look at our... guest. If we're forced to continue eliminating our own men, there won't be anyone left to sail the ship."

Grumbling, Akainu reaches out to rip the insignia from the corpse's uniform before he hauls the body upright by the collar, because a man unable to follow orders certainly doesn't deserve to bear the emblem of his rank. "I still can't believe they're sending him there, after what happened the last time. Like I've said already-"

"I've been told it's not a concern. They finished the reconstruction twelve weeks ago, and besides, there's no one to sneak the Mugiwara captain inside this time. If he somehow finds his way back to Paradise, we'll be waiting for him, and he'll never make it past the Gates." There's a sharp knock at the door, and the taller man smiles. "Oooh, I believe dinner is ready. Shall we go?"

Akainu glances back at the swordsman curled on the floor one last time before he follows Kizaru out the door, tightening his grip on the dead Marine he's holding at arm's length to keep the blood and brain matter from the man's crushed skull from staining his white suit.

_Tough luck, Roronoa. You and Dragon's son, both caught in the crossfire between the World Government and the Revolutionary Army. Nobody on either side really gives a shit whether you live or die; they're far more interested in how to utilize the tool you've unwittingly provided for them._

He's somewhat perplexed at why the other man hasn't done the sensible thing and had the abomination he's carrying aborted, but apparently the Pirate Hunter actually wants his captain's child, or he wouldn't have been so desperate to protect his abdomen during their fight. His black-clad crewmate seemed equally determined to thwart their efforts, and judging by the conversation Akainu overheard...

_"-he's happy, and I guess we've got you idiots looking out for us-"_

It's odd and almost touching, as though the Straw Hats actually thought they were starting a family, on the Grand Line of all places, the Admiral muses as he slams the steel door shut behind him.

He might actually feel sorry for them- if they weren't pirates.

xxx

It's almost three weeks before the news finally reaches them, but one afternoon Luffy returns to the ship with a broken harpoon impaled through his left shoulder and clutching a gore-streaked eternal pose, his voice tremulous with fear and hope as he addresses the dining hall. "He's alive."

While his nakama repair the ship and struggle to keep Sanji, who's recovering from several fractured ribs and second-degree burns, from overexerting himself, the captain's been restlessly combing the city and surrounding towns for information. To his consternation, when he returns to the medical clinic, intending to confront the doctor who surely reported their presence to the authorities, he finds the building gutted and the tile floor in the lobby dark with patches of dried blood, and although he's not quite sure what this means, he knows it's not good.

Much to his crew's distress, their young leader's also been raiding incoming ships - civilian, pirate and military alike - because he's convinced that someone entering the New World must know what's going on at Marine Headquarters. They've moved the Sunny down the coastline eleven times now in an attempt to avoid drawing too much attention to themselves, but it doesn't deter other vessels - particularly those belonging to the Marines - from following, and Luffy's accepted the more frequent attacks with casual disdain.

The other Straw Hats have been terrified that he's going to get himself killed, because his normally careless attitude towards his opponents has gotten downright suicidal, but no one has the heart to stop him, even if they know he's unjustly punishing himself for letting Zoro return to the ship alone.

Dropping onto the slightly blackened bar stool and slumping back against the cracked counter, Luffy tosses the pose to Nami, who snatches it out of midair and wipes the red smears from the plaque so she can read the inscription: Fishman Island.

"They're saying Roronoa Zoro's been imprisoned in Impel Down."

Usopp grimaces. "Luffy, what about-"

"Nothing." The rubber man looks away, grunting as he rips the wooden shaft from his shoulder. He drops it to the floor, where it clatters and rolls under his dangling feet, staring stonily at the wall while Chopper rushes into the infirmary to fetch his bag. "But there's no way he could have hidden it from the guards. And... they've gotta know it's mine, even if Zoro won't say so."

They've never bothered keeping their intimacy a secret: _"Why the hell do you care what they think?"_ The captain remembers the older man protesting when Nami chastised them for getting overly friendly with each other under Nefertari Cobra's dinner table back in Arabasta. _"Luffy doesn't give a shit, and neither do I. Besides, we're pirates, not monks."_

Most of their friends and far too many of their enemies know that they're lovers. Hell, it's probably noted in whatever files the government's keeping on them - he knows there's got to be files somewhere - so, to anyone with two brain cells to rub together, it'll be pretty damn obvious whose child Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro's carrying. Even if they can't figure out how or why it's possible.

Although he's avoided saying anything that might cause his already shell-shocked crew more distress, Luffy has been agonizing over this fact ever since Sanji told him that Akainu was involved in Zoro's disappearance, because he considers this entire mess of his own making.

He's well aware the Admiral hates and wants to kill him, and this doesn't bother him personally - he's known since the beginning that declaring himself a pirate was tantamount to asking the Marines to slip a noose around his neck. It's not surprising, considering how his exploits have pushed him steadily closer to the top of the World Government's shit list.

But for his actions at Marineford and his stubborn refusal to simply lie down and die, at least until his foster brother died in his arms and Jinbe was forced to drag him to safety, to anger Akainu enough to strike out at his swordsman-

And then there's the fact that Zoro might just possibly have managed to hold his own against the Marine, if not for the baby and his compromised health - which are both also the younger pirate's fault...

Luffy slams his fist against the counter, causing several of his nakama to jump and eye him nervously. They're still not comfortable with this new captain, who rarely laughs and loses his temper over trivialities.

"I'm going back, but I can't ask you to come with me," the rubber man tells them, his unsmiling face challenging them to stop him. "I've got that pose thing, so I just need to find a ship and-"

"Luffy," Nami sighs, offering him a sad smile. "You know there's no way you'll be able to follow it without my navigational skills."

"But-"

Franky snorts. "Are you really telling me that you trust another ship to get you there and back, Mugiwara?"

"But-"

"Don't be stupid," Sanji growls, snapping the toothpick clamped between his teeth. He's strongly aware of the fresh pack of cigarettes tucked into his shirt pocket, but he can't quite bring himself to actually light one, because he keeps telling himself that he'll just have to quit again after they rescue the swordsman and his precious cargo. "Of course we're all going. That wayward Marimo's our nakama too, you idiot, and I've been looking forward to pissing him off by spoiling your kid rotten, so let's quit talking about it and go get 'em back."

xxx

Zoro watches the guards carefully for an opening, any opening, but he learns very quickly that they're taking no chances; although he's unarmed and his wrists chained securely to the wall at his back, they keep their distance. Only the woman dares comes within range, and the first time, when he tries to hook a leg around her ankles and drop her to the floor, ignoring the spasm of pain that ripples through his midsection, she sidesteps neatly and slams his head back against the stone blocks so forcefully that he sees stars.

"They tell me you're strong," the Chief Guard breathes as she leans over him, forcing the butt of her trident under his jaw to lift his chin higher, and he finds it unnerving when her eyes remain hidden beneath her hair, because it makes her that much more difficult to read. "Very resistant to pain..."

The swordsman rumbles low in his throat, fighting the urge to flatten himself against the wall to escape the clawed fingertips delicately mapping the scar on his chest. The unexpectedly gentle contact leaves his skin crawling in revulsion, because he's never allowed anyone but his captain to touch his old wound like that, and no one else has ever dared try until now.

His discomfort must show on his face, because she's laughing softly when she ducks her head to lap dried blood from the corner of his mouth. "But that means I'll just need to try harder, hmmm~?"

The only warning is the faint tensing of his jaw muscles against her cheek, and Sadi-chan jerks her head back as the pirate tries to bite her despite the trident jammed against his windpipe, teeth snapping shut like a steel trap on empty air scant centimeters from her nose and lips.

"My, my, you certainly have a temper, don't you?"

"Fuck y-" He coughs, tears beading in the corners of his eye as she increases the pressure on his hyoid.

"And such a foul mouth. Don't you think you're setting a bad example for someone...?"

Her fingers trail lower, nails pressing more firmly into the swordsman's flesh as she traces the curve of his distended belly, and Zoro abruptly stops breathing, panic flaring inside him, as the baby shifts under her hand. He wets his dry lips nervously. "Oi, d-don't-"

She draws back to run a single finger along the underside of his abdomen, just above his groin, and although her touch is gentle - almost caressing - her sinister smile says she's imagining gutting him, and he's dimly aware that his mind is shrieking at him that this isn't right - she's not right - because she's a WOMAN, for god sakes, so how can she be looking at him like she wants to find out if his unborn child's blood runs as red as his own?

_"Do what you want with Roronoa, but nothing that might endanger the brat, unless you want to find yourself impaled on your own trident."_

The sadist's a bit disappointed, aware that the swordsman's safe from the worst that she can do, but he doesn't know that, judging from the pulse racing high and fast in his throat - she swears she can actually hear the rapid pounding of his heart as she cups her hand firmly against his stomach - and the way he's trying so very hard not to cringe against the wall, his single eye dilated with horrified disbelief and outrage. So very interesting...

She decides then and there that Roronoa doesn't need to know the details regarding her orders, because if he won't beg her to spare his own life, perhaps he'll beg her to spare someone else's, and after hearing the rumors and seeing the scars with her own eyes, she wants very badly to find out exactly how much pain and humiliation this man can endure.

Besides, he won't be nearly as... enthusiastic... after they cut the baby out of him a few months from now, even if she's fairly sure she can keep him alive for quite a while afterwards, since they've promised to give her what's left of him when they've taken what they want.

"We're going to have- mmmm~ so much fun together, aren't we?"


	8. Chapter 8

Zoro jerks awake, breath catching in his throat, when his head nods low enough for his chin to brush his sternum. Apparently neither the recurrent ache in his abdomen nor the strain on his back from sitting upright for hours at a time are capable of causing enough discomfort to prevent him from dozing off.

He's unbearably fatigued but doesn't dare sleep because he's got no way of knowing when the sadistic bitch - he still calls her this in his head, even though he learned very quickly not to say it to her face - might suddenly decide he'll enjoy her company for a few hours. The instincts that normally propel him to wakefulness when danger threatens haven't been cooperating since the pregnancy started, making him sluggish and too deep a sleeper to register the Chief Guard's approach.

A shudder passes through his body as he remembers the first time he woke from a particularly vivid dream, disoriented and aroused by the fading mirage of his captain's dark heated gaze, only to find her leering up at him, and there's still several rings of teeth marks healing on his inner thigh from when he panicked and tried to kick her in the face.

The bitch is obsessed with anything that causes pain or draws blood, but she especially likes to bite.

_Don't think about it. Don't think about anything she's done or how long you've been here. You'll eventually go fucking crazy if you keep thinking about it, and she'd love that._

Tuning out the protesting muscles in his shoulders and arms, the swordsman arches his back until there's a faint popping sensation as his spine realigns itself. He scowls as the movement causes his coat to slip off one shoulder and wastes the next five minutes struggling to grab the wayward collar with his teeth so he can tug it back into place.

Because Sadi - even after nearly two months, he still refuses to call her Chan, no matter how often she demands it - shredded the ridiculous striped uniform in which they dressed him within the first few days of his incarceration, he's naked beneath it. He hadn't expected to see any of his own clothing again, suspecting that the prison's staff most likely burned the personal effects of incoming prisoners, but the Chief Guard brought the coat with her during one visit and hasn't actually taken it away yet, even if she's threatened to do so repeatedly.

The material smells strongly of sweat and- _don't go there_- and it's stiff with dried blood from his numerous cuts and scrapes as well as- _I said don't fucking go there or the crew's gonna find nothing but a basket case swordsman when they show up to rescue you_- but it's familiar and he'd rather be wearing it than sitting with his bare ass on the concrete floor. Unfortunately, his tormentor's a quick study at recognizing what discomfits him, and she knows he detests when she makes a production of undressing him by undoing the coat toggles with slow deliberation, which is likely why she's allowed him to continue wearing it.

At least they put him somewhere the temperature's reasonable, if a bit warm - which is one of the reasons he's had so much trouble staying awake - instead of Level Five. He's heard the junior guards complaining bitterly, although never within earshot of their superior, amongst themselves about freezing their balls off during their shifts there.

The guards don't talk to him, don't even look at him. No one talks to him except the Chief Guard, and after the constant clamor of living on the Sunny with eight nakama, some noisier than others, the silence of Impel Down's lowest level - which currently appears to be unoccupied except for himself - is deafening. He's found he misses Chopper and Usopp's constant chattering, Robin's gentle teasing, Franky's horrible and usually off-color jokes that earn him sniggers from their male crewmates and sharp rebukes and punches from Nami. He misses the clear dulcet singing of Brook's violin, and hell, he even misses the swirly-brow bastard's snide commentary.

But most of all, he misses the sound of his captain's voice, and while their two-year separation nearly drove him mad with waiting, at least he had Mihawk's training to distract him and people to interact with who weren't interested in making him bleed - well, at least not in the way the bitch is interested, anyway - and he wasn't chained to a wall and listening uneasily for the sharp click of heels echoing down the stairwell outside his cell. And, of course, there's now this other thing shared between Luffy and himself.

"Don't worry, kiddo. We just gotta hang on a little bit longer, and when Sencho gets here, he'll kick their asses. He's gonna be really pissed that somebody tried to hurt us, and you've never seen him mad before-" The swordsman grins tiredly. "-but he gets pretty fuckin' scary."

Talking to himself makes him feel somewhat unhinged - and he sure as hell doesn't want to talk to the bitch, even if she tries very hard to get more than one or two word answers or muffled grunts of protest from him - so he holds one-sided conversations with the baby instead. Even if the kid can't answer and probably doesn't understand anything he's saying, it makes him feel better when his small passenger stirs and shifts, reacting to the sound of his voice, because there's been a lot less movement lately, and he can't remember if that's supposed to be normal or not.

His stomach growls loudly, prompting a series of kicks and punches - his rumbling gut must sound loud as thunder in there - and he watches in fascination as his belly visibly twitches with each blow, wishing not for the first time that his lover was here to see this, because he can imagine the rubber man's initial astonishment transitioning into squeals of delight.

Of course Luffy would also start yelling for their crewmates to come and check it out, and he'd probably end up surrounded by a flock of excited nakama all gaping like fish out of water and trying to touch him... but that doesn't seem quite so bad now, compared to his current predicament...

There's another audible rumble from his midsection, and he winces, grimacing, as an especially hard jab puts extra unwanted pressure on his bladder. "Mmph, settle down, damn it. It's your fault I'm so hungry."

He's debated refusing the food he's brought, but he hasn't forgotten Chopper and the eyebrow cook's lengthy lecture on appropriate calorie consumption and why he needs more than usual. If he was alone, he wouldn't mind going without food - he's done it before, not always willingly - but he's got someone else's needs to worry about now, so he needs to eat something, even if he's still half-convinced it might be poisoned.

To Zoro's relief, the meals they bring don't make him sick, although the Chief Guard nearly does when she insists on feeding him by hand. Taking anything that woman's offering turns his stomach, but he's worried that vomiting up what he's forcing himself to eat will do far more harm than good, so he continues to choke it down anyway and tries to ignore her amusement and disparaging remarks.

Although he doesn't understand why they insist on feeding him so well when they're just going to execute him eventually anyway, he's not going to argue, because he's determined to walk out of this hellhole on his own two feet when Luffy eventually storms the prison, and that means conserving his strength.

It's just a matter of time, and while he knows that the younger pirate won't find reaching Impel Down an easy endeavor, there's no doubt in the swordsman's mind that somebody somewhere is going to regret this, regardless of how it all turns out in the end, because the Marines have already made the mistake of fucking around with the wrong captain in the past, stealing his nakama and killing his foster brother, and this time it's even more personal.

xxx

"-wouldn't be such a problem if the ship wasn't in such bad shape."

"But we can't wait that long!" Luffy argues, clenching his fists, and Franky grabs the furious rubber man around the waist and hauls him backwards before he loses control and punches the bewildered man who's just explained that it's going to be at least a week before he can finish coating the Sunny.

"Sorry, look, he's a little stressed out right now," the cyborg explains apologetically. "His, ah, girlfriend ZORA's got a bun in the oven, and he's s'posed to meet her on the other side of the Red Line before she pops, but he's worried he's not gonna make it in time."

"I-I see." The mechanic stares at the irate young pirate, who's discovering that pounding forcefully on the huge arm restraining him won't work and is now attempting to chew through his way through it. "Well, I'll see what I can do."

Beside them, Sanji makes a strangled noise that he quickly disguises as a cough, and Nami slaps a hand over her face with a faint sigh of exasperation, but Luffy's too absorbed in trying to escape Franky's grasp to bother disputing him, and the workman finally walks away scratching his scalp, casting one last puzzled look back at them before he returns to his task.

Oh well, it's a good explanation as any, Robin muses, considering how their captain immediately started ranting about needing to find Zoro and the baby as soon as the coating mechanic told him there was a delay, and the cyborg's fast thinking has probably saved them from a skirmish with the Marines, although their missing crewmate is going to pitch a fit if - when, more likely, from the expression on the cook's face - he hears he's been relegated to girlfriend status.

Even with the eternal pose allowing them to sail directly back to the Red Line without needing to stop at every island for resets, it's taken them nearly seven weeks to backtrack the distance they've traveled since first departing from the underwater island to which they're now returning.

Seven weeks. The historian does some quick addition in her head, watching as Franky finally decides that Luffy's settled down enough to set the younger pirate back on his feet, patting his shoulder in silent apology.

It's now roughly ten weeks since having their world turned upside down by Akainu's attack and that means thirty-three, nearly thirty-four weeks total since the crew entered the New World, and she hasn't forgotten what Chopper told them that afternoon in the diner. They've heard no more news regarding their swordsman, just speculation on whether the Marines will hold a public execution for the Pirate Hunter and when as well as some whispered rumors that the World Government's redoubled its efforts to locate Dragon.

Robin knows her crewmates have tried to remain optimistic, but she can't help wondering if it's not already too late and they're launching a suicide mission for a man who's already dead.

xxx

Zoro stares at the Chief Guard, his brain trying to make sense of what he's just been asked.

"Take your time, Roronoa. I know it's a- ah, mmm~ rather difficult decision," she purrs, tracing the tip of the blade across her full lower lip.

The swordsman takes a deep breath, acutely aware that this is nothing more than a game to her, and she'll likely do what she wants regardless of how he answers, but precisely because it is a game, he's afraid to make the wrong choice. Will she actually do what he asks, or will she do the complete opposite?

"I don't trust you." _Fucking sadistic bitch._

Sadi-chan smiles. "Mmm, that's very wise of you, but I promise, no traps this time, just one choice. If you need some time to think about it, I can-"

"No, I don't," he growls, fighting back the nausea that's reduced his stomach to a churning pit, because this will change everything, and his utmost regret is that he's breaking the promise he made to his captain.

When he makes his declaration and glares at her, jaw clenched and eye blazing with hate, vowing he's going to kill her for forcing him to participate in his own mental and physical torture - and for even thinking he'd choose differently - she laughs delightedly and leans down to plant a deceptively gentle kiss on his forehead, and he wants to vomit.

The guards stationed outside exchange dubious glances when their superior demands that they remove the pirate's restraints, but their hesitation makes Sadi-chan angry and they're more afraid of her than the poor bastard chained in the cell, so they do as they're told and press the swordsman down on his back, pinning his arms against the floor.

"Last chance to change your mind." She kneels at his side and playfully taps the knife's flat edge against his abdomen, licking her lips when he jumps despite himself at the touch of cold steel on his bare skin.

While he's fairly sure he could throw off the men holding him down, even if he feels like a goddamn upended turtle thanks to his protruding belly, Zoro's well aware that the Chief Guard will have plenty of time to incapacitate him before he can gain his feet. He's seen how fast the bitch moves. So although he wants very badly to wrest the knife from her hand and drive it directly between her eyes, he allows the muscles in his arms to relax and takes a deep breath. "Stop fucking around and just do it already."

"You asked for this," she teases. "Remember that when you start screaming and begging me to stop..."

But he refuses to give her the satisfaction, so he doesn't scream or beg or even make a sound when she tightens her grip on the hilt and starts cutting, and because the knife is razor sharp, she's made seven neat slashes before she realizes that he's not going to and starts losing her temper.

The guards scatter like startled mice at her snarl of outrage, and Zoro's actually struggling to his knees, slipping clumsily in the puddle of his own blood and groping for the knife she's tossed aside, when her swinging trident catches him in the temple hard enough to send him sprawling.

He's seeing double when he reaches out to grab her by the ankle, trying to pull her down, and she retaliates by grinding the trident butt into the wounds she's made.

To her irritation, he doesn't even flinch, just glares up at her with one slightly unfocused eye, and she can't take it anymore, because he should be howling in pain and rolling around on the floor bleeding. He's bleeding alright, but he's too busy trying to kill her to do what she really wants, and she's so infuriated that everything Akainu told her goes straight out of her head.

Zoro gets the first hint that he's in serious trouble when the panicking guards flee at the sight of the rage burning in Sadi-chan's eyes, and the swordsman's forced to abandon his goal of knocking her to the ground long enough to get both hands around her neck in favor of self-defense when she lays into him forcefully enough to knock the wind from his lungs.

He's doubled over, arms hugging his belly to protect it from the blows raining down, when - realizing that, despite being beaten mercilessly, he's still not making the noises she wants to hear - she abruptly changes tactics and finds a creative new use for her trident's shaft, thinking that maybe this will loosen his tongue.

_No, please, not th-!_ He claws helplessly at the floor, trying to drag himself away from the cold metal forcing its way between his thighs, but the Chief Guard pins him down with a spiked heel jammed against his lower back and gives a vicious twist. Zoro arches as his distended abdomen's compressed painfully under his own weight, unable to prevent the tears beading in his eye from spilling over and wetting one side of his face as she uses the opportunity to ram the trident's blunt end home with short ruthless thrusts.

It fucking hurts, like she's ripping him to pieces, and he can't stop the guttural sounds of protest escaping from his throat, but a cold dispassionate voice in his mind tells him that it's still nowhere near as painful as the ball of glowing light with which Bartholomew Kuma once hit him - not to mention the larger one that he willingly stepped into - back on Thriller Bark, so he grits his teeth, squeezes his eye tightly shut and tries very hard not to feel the turbulent kicking inside him.

His last thoughts before he loses consciousness are that she's probably going to kill him, this is an incredibly horrible and goddamn humiliating way to die, and he hopes like hell they dump his body in the water for the sea kings instead of hanging it on the front gates, because he doesn't want his captain or their nakama to see him like that.

_Sorry, I'm sorry- I tried, but I couldn't hold on until-_

And just before the darkness closes around him:

_Luffy, I love-_

xxx

Nami and Robin quickly abort their hushed conversation when the captain - who's just finally fallen asleep curled in a ball between them on the bed in the room the Straw Hats have been renting while their ship goes through the last stages of coating - stirs, whimpering loudly enough to wake the reindeer dozing in the navigator's lap.

The historian strokes her fingers through Luffy's tousled hair, exchanging a glance with her fellow female crewmate as the younger pirate fumbles blindly for her hand, tears leaking from beneath his closed eyelids as he kicks at the sheets twisted around his feet and lower legs.

Sanji rises from his chair, laying the open newspaper face down on the table and joins them at the bedside. "The dreams again? I don't think he's slept more than a few hours in the last two months..."

"Can you blame him?" Nami scolds softly, but her irritation melts away when the cook reaches down to gently squeeze their captain's shoulder, his concern clear on his face.

At his nakama's touch, Luffy thrashes violently, crying out Zoro's name as he bolts upright, knocking Sanji and Robin's comforting hands away. He stares at them dumbly, eyes enormous and lower lip trembling, and he bursts into tears when he tries to speak, unable to discuss the nightmare from which he's just awakened, because his reeling mind is full of fire and blood and his swordsman's pain.

xxx

The Chief Guard stumbles to her feet, panting rapidly and getting blood in her hair as she wipes sweat from her face with her forearm, her other hand trembling where it's clutching the trident butt she's just pulled from the swordsman's unresisting body. She glares at the smears of crimson streaking the shaft and her fingers, breasts heaving in their leather harness, before she flings the weapon across the cell with a shriek of rage and frustration.

Who and what the hell is Roronoa Zoro, that he won't scream no matter what she does to him?

She stares down at her handiwork, and when she realizes that he's not moving, her anger dwindles and subsides into trepidation, because if she's accidentally killed him...

Taking a step back, she reaches out to brace one shaking hand against the stone wall and nudges the slumped pirate's hip with one pointed shoe tip, breathing a sigh of relief when he flinches weakly and utters a faint noise of complaint. Good. He's alive, even if he's a bit worse for wear. She never meant to lose control; she only wanted to toy with him a little, see how far she could push him, but his consistent refusal to cry out or beg her to stop just made her so angry...

But he's still alive.

Her lips slowly curl into a smile. Maybe, just maybe, he won't be quite as dull a plaything after they're done with him as she originally-

"Sadi-chan, I've got four guards who've abandoned their post and claim they refuse to return until you- WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE?"

"Calm down, he's still breathing, isn't he?" The Chief Guard laughs breathlessly, stroking blood-smeared fingers down her cheek. "Mmmm~ I've never met anyone so... durable."

Hannyabal shoots her a look of disgust as he stalks into the cell for a closer look, and to his amazement, she's right. Roronoa's an absolute mess, but he is still breathing, and when the newly promoted Warden stoops to check the swordsman's pulse, it's too fast but also surprisingly strong considering the intense abuse the man's obviously just endured.

"Yes, well, you'd better hope that durability's hereditary or we're both finished. Tell Domino to alert the medical staff that we're transferring him." He takes one last look and can't help shuddering. Sadi-chan's good at what she does, but sometimes he thinks she enjoys her job a bit too much.

"Mmm, of course." Her amusement at her superior's obvious discomfort is clearly audible.

"And go clean yourself up."


	9. Chapter 9

The Straw Hat captain's too absorbed in his own thoughts to pay any mind to either their surroundings or the startled fishmen and merfolk who stop to stare when they recognize the pirates marching through their midst, so he doesn't hear the low-pitched argument occurring behind him.

"Where the hell are we going? I thought he wanted to head straight for Impel Down!"

"I don't know, but I really don't think he's fooling around sightseeing, especially not after last night," Nami hisses back at the sniper. "We'll just have to trust that he knows what he's doing."

They're all exhausted and slightly ill-tempered, because after waking panic-stricken and teary-eyed for the third night in a row, Luffy spent the time until sunrise pacing the room and making enough noise to keep everyone else from sleeping, and as soon as the first rays of light broke the horizon, he insisted on leaving immediately for their destination, even as the coating mechanic applied the last finishing touches to the ship. He's been anxious and unusually terse all morning, demanding that they make a brief detour because there's somebody he needs to find.

The crew's been wandering around Coral Hill for nearly an hour now, but the younger pirate's repeatedly ignored their repeated questions about exactly who he's trying to find, and the navigator - sympathetic to his moodiness but still starting to lose her patience - is seconds away from grabbing the collar of the rubber man's vest, intending to shake some answers out of him if necessary, when he finally spots a familiar face gaping at him and bolts towards it.

"Luffy-chin? What are you doing here?"

"Keimi! We've been looking for you!"

Nami blinks, wondering what in the world their captain could possibly want with the mermaid. She's certainly sweet enough but not exactly the brightest fish in the sea, and the navigator's not quite sure what Luffy's got in mind, but he's pulled the girl aside for what looks like an entirely serious conversation, his face shadowed by his straw hat as he gestures animatedly in the direction they've docked the Sunny.

She and Usopp watch as Keimi reacts to what she's just been told, her large expressive eyes glistening as she throws both arms around their nakama's shoulders and hugs him tightly. She stiffens when he mutters something in her ear, eyes going even wider, and when she pulls back to hold him at arm's length, both of them start chattering excitedly.

"What's he up to?" The sniper murmurs as the mermaid grabs Luffy's hand, the rubber man beckoning frantically for his waiting crewmates to follow before he darts back the way they've come, dragging Keimi with him.

"I don't know, but I think we're about to find out. Come on!"

xxx

Zoro doesn't know where he is when he regains consciousness, squinting blearily at the light shining in his eye, which seems exceptionally bright after the darkness of his cell, but he does know that he aches all over, including somewhere he'd rather not think about right now.

It takes a few minutes for his vision to adjust, but eventually he's able to see that he's in a large room filled with monitors and other equipment, and there's white-coated doctors bustling back and forth carrying clipboards, some of them accompanied by bored-looking guards, but no one's paying any attention to him.

The swordsman's lying on his side, surrounded by beeping, flashing contraptions similar to what he saw in that clinic back before everything went to shit, and when his left hand - he's surprised to find that he's not cuffed - moves automatically to his belly, he finds a broad belt-like band strapped around his midsection and connected with wires to one of the chirping boxes. There's a small screen on one side, and for several moments he stares transfixed at the green line bouncing across it, not quite sure what he's looking at.

When he tries to sit up, pain flares through his rear and lower back, and he bites the inside of his cheek to muffle a gasp as he hunches over, groping for the IV pole beside him. His movement pulls free a few cables connecting him to the nearby machines, which start emitting high-pitched shrills of alarm, but he doesn't notice, because he's too busy fighting to keep his balance.

Who knew that just a couple of missing fingers would make it so damn hard to hold onto something?

Because the Chief Guard wanted to cause as much pain as possible, opting to sever them one joint at a time, she only got through his pinky, ring finger and the very tip of his middle finger before losing her temper, instead of doing his whole hand - both hands - like she intended. He's probably lucky, he thinks numbly as he's grabbed and pushed back onto the table before he can fall to the floor.

If he manages to survive long enough to get out of here, and if Sadi-chan doesn't decide to finish the job, maybe he'll eventually be able to hold a sword in his right hand again.

xxx

"Let's go, let's go, let's go," Luffy chants impatiently from the Sunny's figurehead where he's planted himself after herding the crew back onto the ship and chasing Franky into the energy room to replace their spent barrels of cola. To his nakama's relief, he's been a lot more like himself since his meeting with Keimi, hounding Sanji for food like he hasn't done for weeks - and for once, the cook doesn't argue, because they're all going to need their strength for what's ahead - and begging a surprised Usopp to repaint the Jolly Roger they've been too dispirited to hoist.

The sniper's initially confused by the request, because it seems a somewhat trivial matter compared to the other necessary preparations, but when his steely-eyed captain insists that he wants the Marines to know exactly who they're dealing with because this is the last time they're messing with his nakama or his family, Usopp merely nods and heads for the men's quarters to retrieve his paint and brushes.

When they run the finished flag up the mast, he declares it's not his best work - along with the rest of the ship, his art supplies haven't fared too well, and he's been forced to use a darker shade of yellow than he'd like because the contents of several paint tubes had exploded all over the inside of his locker from the fire's heat - but Luffy takes one look and proclaims it perfect.

"I want Zoro to see it when we walk back out the front gate."

xxx

No one will answer his questions when he eventually gets irritated and worried enough to ask; they're far more interested in talking about him than to him, but the swordsman finally learns from the doctors' conversations that the bitch actually succeeded in giving him a concussion in addition to making it damn near impossible for him to sit upright for more than a few minutes at a time, and he's been unconscious for nearly three days.

Beyond that he's not entirely sure what's going on, because they use a lot of advanced technical and medical jargon that he doesn't understand, and it's not like he can ask them to repeat it in layman's terms. He's pretty sure they're discussing the baby; he recognizes some of their phrases from Chopper and Robin's coaching, although the doctors continually refer to it as a fetus, which is kind of ridiculous at this point because that term makes him think of something the size of a peanut or possibly a mikan, but the kid's a hell of a lot bigger than that now.

Usopp might've unwittingly hit the nail on the head with that stupid cannon ball joke, because Zoro swears he's actually gotten rounder since the last time he got a good look at himself.

While he's not exactly comfortable, because it's already hard enough to breathe without being sprawled on his side with his hands now securely re-cuffed behind him, and there always seems to be someone prodding at his belly or taking blood samples, the padded table in the medical bay's a thousand times better than the hard concrete of his Level Six cell.

He doesn't like the doctors touching him and abrades them with verbal abuse when their gloved fingers poke his abdomen too hard or get a little too close to places where he most definitely doesn't want them, but at least they go about it in a cold and clinical fashion which is nothing like the bitch's crude advances, so that's mostly tolerable too - no worse than anything his own doctor was already doing - although their intense interest in the "fetus" bothers him for reasons he can't explain.

It's more than just curiousity for a highly unusual case, and despite all the constant monitoring - he feels like one of those squiggly bacterium-things that he knows Chopper likes to peer at through his microscope when he's researching new medicines - they're obviously far more concerned with the baby he's carrying than the swordsman himself, and he thinks it seems almost as though he's missing an important piece of some strange puzzle.

xxx

The captain initially wants to go through the G-1 Gate because it's closer, but the crew - after much arguing and a black eye or two - finally manages to convince him that it's a bad idea. Ever since the former Marine Headquarters was rebuilt, there's been an excess of ships docked in its harbors, and Keimi's already warned the Straw Hats that the base's residents have been gaining a reputation for firing first and asking questions later because they're determined to prevent their settlement from suffering the same destruction and humiliation as Marineford.

Luffy, who's impatient and anxious and spoiling for a fight, declares that he'll gladly kick all their asses, no matter how many ships the G-1 Marines want to send after them, but he eventually agrees to using the Enies Lobby Gate because Robin promises him that, by using Nami's navigation skills to ride the edge of the Tarai Current, they'll reach their target faster without being drawn into pointless exchanges of cannon fire or having overeager recruits attempting to board them in hopes of making names for themselves.

Besides, although the World Government's been quick to establish a new stronghold and rebuild their maximum security prison, they've been less concerned with the remaining point on their triangle of power - it's always been little more than a pretense anyway, as they've never had much use for fair trials - so Enies Lobby is still under heavy construction, thanks to the Straw Hat pirates' last visit, even though it's now more than two years later.

Fewer opponents, a faster route, and although he's been mysteriously tight-lipped about his plans, Luffy's assured them repeatedly that they'll have absolutely no trouble getting through the Gate itself, so what could possibly go wrong?

In the end, however, the smaller currents sweeping off the Tarai are stronger than either the historian or the navigator expected, and when the gyres start pushing the Sunny far enough away that Nami's afraid she'll lose her bearings entirely, Franky's forced to pull some drastic stunts that leave everyone clinging to the ship and each other as the cyborg fights to hold the ship's wheel steady.

Utilizing the paddle wheels while alternating between half-powered Coup de Burst and Chicken Voyage blasts to weave back and forth through the powerful currents makes for a very bumpy and nauseating ride.

"Franky, if you ever do that again-" Nami moans from where she's bent over, struggling valiantly not to vomit down the portside, after they've finally bounced around the last turn and found themselves skirting the Judicial Island. "-I swear I'm going to stuff you in one of your own cola bottles and toss you out to sea."

Usopp slowly releases the stairwell railing by the foremast, takes one wobbling step back and promptly falls on his rear, nearly sitting on Chopper, who's sprawled spread-eagle on the grass, whimpering for the sky to stop spinning. "He got us here, didn't he? Oh god, I think I'm gonna be sick."

Moving unsteadily, they gather along the railing to stare at the tall fence between them and the hazy outline of the gigantic door they'll need to breach once they get inside Enies Lobby.

"Gaon Cannon?" Franky inquires, glancing over at the captain, who's peering down into the shadowy depths below them, squinting and shielding his eyes from the sun's glare reflecting off the water. "Ship's still not in terrific shape and we might loose a bit more paneling, but we'll hold together."

"Nah, save the fuel, 'cause we got company," Luffy laughs suddenly, and when he looks up his eyes are dancing with excitement. "Just watch!"

"Company-?"

To their surprise, the nearest section of fence quivers, twists and crumples in on itself and then abruptly vanishes from sight as it's yanked beneath water that's suddenly churning violently, leaving an empty gap far wider than the Sunny actually needs.

The younger pirate smirks at the stunned expression on Franky's face, spins on his heel and heads for the Sunny's bow to gleefully take his customary seat on the lion's head, gesturing towards the giant doors awaiting them. "Okay, now get us over there!"

"What the hell? What just happened?"

"Luffy, what the hell's going on here?" Sanji calls up from the lawn deck. "You still haven't told us-"

"Come on, come on!" The captain urges impatiently, flailing both arms in agitation. "I guess it took Keimi a lot longer to find him than she thought it would, but he's here now, so we can go!"

Robin closes her eyes briefly, concentrating, and utters a surprised chuckle as she finally comprehends why Luffy's waved away their questions about exactly how they're going to open both sets of doors and been so unconcerned about pitting a meager eight people and one battered ship against whatever's waiting for them on the other side of the Impel Down Gate. _Ah, good thinking, Sencho._

"Wha- he? Who's down there?" Nami demands, tightening her grip on the railing as Franky reaches for the controls, but Luffy just grins over his shoulder at her and erupts into wild laughter, grabbing a tight hold on the figurehead and clapping a hand to his hat to prevent it from flying off his head when the ship lunges forward.

Thanks to the danger posed by the waterfall ring, there's currently no vessels anchored inside the now defunct fence, but they're using a full-strength, three-barrel-powered maneuver this time, and the resulting noise of the blast - as well as the sight of a brig sloop sailing unexpectedly through the air - catches the attention of the few ships stationed near the scaffold-laden entrance gates of the island.

"Oi, there, what do you think you're-? OI, IT'S MUGIWARA!"

There's a frenzy of activity as the startled Marines race to turn their ships after the invading pirates, but no one onboard the Sunny pays them much mind, because the Coup de Burst's set them down only feet from the waterfall, and they're being swept along by the water cascading down the sides of the precipice.

"Franky, we're too close to the edge!" Nami shrieks, ducking as several empty cola barrels bounce past her to disappear into the seemingly bottomless chasm and flinging out an arm to catch Chopper's scrabbling, wailing form before he can follow. "We need to-!"

"NO! HOLD IT STEADY!" Luffy screams at the cyborg, flinging his arms in tight coils around the figurehead to prevent himself from being thrown free as the Sunny lists more violently, tilting nearly sideways over the sink hole, and for a moment the navigator's convinced that they're going over. But then there's a sharp bump against the hull and the ship rights itself, timbers groaning, and shoots into the slightly calmer waters beyond.

"Damn, that was close," Sanji groans, extricating himself from Usopp and Brook where they've all landed in a tangle of limbs at the base of the slide. Intent on reaching Nami, the cook doesn't notice when he accidentally treads on the sniper's nose, producing a string of curses. "Nami-san, are you-?"

"You should be more worried about yourself," the navigator scolds, waving away the hand he's offering as she struggles to her feet, giving the trembling reindeer in her arms a tight squeeze before she sets him on his feet. "I know those ribs aren't completely healed yet, not with the way you've been running around instead of resting like Chopper told you."

"Ha~ Nami-swan's so sweet being concerned about my-"

Usopp, sitting cross-legged beside Brook - who's just declared that he's sufficiently rattled, seeing as how he's nothing but bones - and clutching his face, interrupts both skeleton and cook as he glances up and immediately forgets all about his injured proboscis. "Uh, guys-?"

Several yards away but closing fast, the occupants of the first Marine vessel to pass the damaged fence stare dumbfounded as the Straw Hats realize their predicament and most of the pirates promptly panic, except for the raven-haired woman standing on the starboard stern and peering back at them with one arm raised to shadow her eyes from the sun, and the captain-

They can clearly hear Luffy's raised voice, shouting at his crew to keep going and stop freaking out because everything's going according to plan.

"What the hell is he thinking? The Gate's not going to open on its own!"

"I don't know, but I don't like this. Get on that Den Den Mushi and call-"

"-Clutch," Robin murmurs, the corner of her lips turning up in a grim smile as she watches disembodied limbs sprout to snap the necks of the unsuspecting Marine captain and his men.

Nami stares up at the barrier they're approaching far more quickly than she expected, knowing that they're going to plough headlong into the Gate unless they execute some kind of evasive maneuver in the next few seconds. "LUFFY!"

"I SAID HOLD!" The captain bellows, releasing his grip so he can rise to his feet, swaying dangerously as he glares up at the closed doors, straw hat flopping wildly behind him from the cord around his neck. No turning back now, just blind trust that their friend lurking below the surface won't let them down. "NOW, SURUME!"

Massive tentacles erupt from the depths surrounding them to slap against the Gate with a thunderous boom, and Robin laughs out loud, taking cover under the overhang of interlocking hands she's just sprouted from the outer dining hall wall, while the rest of the crew backs nervously towards the center of the lawn deck, soaked by the water cascading from the sky.

Luffy stands his ground as one enormous eye emerges beside the Sunny, grinning hugely although the orbit's glaring balefully as it rolls in his direction. It's debatable whether the creature's really happy to see him or just here because it fears his Haki, but he'd like to think it's helping them willingly.

"PULL!" The rubber man screams, staggering as the still-rising rubbery mass actually lifts the ship clear of the water, and only the slender hands blossoming from the lion's head to grab his ankles keep him from tumbling overboard. He barely notices, too absorbed by the sight above him, but Usopp mouths a silent thank-you to the historian as she joins the rest of them on the lawn deck.

There's a few deafening reports as several suction cups pop loose from the Gate's slick surface, but then the Kraken surges forwards, carrying the Sunny with it, and plasters the foremost portion of its body against the doors, tentacle tips groping along the crack down the center.

The Gate creaks ominously under the assault and Luffy utters a shout of approval, echoed by Franky, who shrugs at the incredulous look that Nami's giving him. "Oi, Calamari-bro's lendin' us some tentacles, right?"

"We need all the help we can get," the navigator agrees. "-but Luffy could've at least given us some warning! And you-! How long have you known?"

Robin raises her hands in silent appeal, laughing softly. "Not much longer than the rest of you, I promise."

"Look!" Chopper squeals, pointing to where Surume's efforts have finally paid off and a thin line of light's become visible down the center of the Gate. The doctor flings his arms around the historian's leg, adding his voice to Luffy's exuberant yelling and his crewmates' sudden excited exchanges, because there's no longer any doubt in his mind that they're doing it, they're really going to-

"Alright!" Franky roars, punching a fist into the air. "Next stop, Impel Down!"

"Let's go get Zoro and my kid!" Luffy barks down at them, looking back over his shoulder as the doors groan open before them, and Chopper falls momentarily silent amidst his embracing, cheering nakama at the sight of the captain's austere eyes gleaming brightly above his muted but determined grin, awed because he's dimly aware that he's being given a glimpse of the future Pirate King, the man Luffy's going to be.


	10. Chapter 10

It's late afternoon when Zoro's startled from restless sleep by the sound of heels clacking through the medical bay doorway, unaware that the Sunny - aided by Surume - has just breached the first of the two Gates separating him from his nakama.

The doctors have apparently been satisfied with the results of their tests, because while they've left the fetal heart monitor on him, they've pretty much left him alone for the past day or so except to periodically shove a bedpan under his ass. Not that he's done a whole lot with it, considering he hasn't eaten much since the evening the Chief Guard damn near beat him to death.

He's threatened more than once to piss on the somber-faced technician delivering the pan - the damn thing's always cold as ice - but the man just ignores him, and the swordsman's got no way to aim with his hands restrained behind his back anyway, so he never bothers following through.

Three days of being unconscious haven't quite made up for weeks of forcing himself to stay alert, so he's been trying to nap, but each time he dozes off, he's awakened by all the kicking and wriggling and somersaulting. He hasn't entirely minded; after nearly thirty-six hours of little to no movement and no one willing to tell him why, he's found the baby's increased activity reassuring.

Now he's wishing it would just settle down, uncomfortably aware that the tremors shaking his abdomen are readily distinguishable even if he can't see the eyes studying him thanks to the mop of hair obscuring half her face.

"Did you miss me?" Sadi-chan is smiling widely as she stalks towards his bed, and while the doctors exchange nervous glances, no one moves to stop her, and they quickly find tasks with which to occupy themselves at the far end of the room.

It's the first time Zoro's seen her since- he shies away from the memory of being viciously and mercilessly violated by cold, hard metal, just as he's forced himself to avoid acknowledging most of the other less painful but still equally humiliating things she's done to his body.

Hate, wariness, the desire to wrap both hands - missing fingers or not - around her neck and squeeze until his thumbs rupture her windpipe: he's expecting those, but he's not prepared for the way his heart speeds up and his mouth goes bone dry at the sight of her. And this time it's not just concern for what she could do to the baby, although that's definitely near the surface of the turmoil raging in his head, but fear of what else she might to do to him.

The pirate's faced a lot of intimidating opponents in the past few years, many of which have been strong enough to severely injure him and several who've left him for dead, but none of them - not even the Straw Hats' own sharp-tongued navigator - have made him so uneasy that his innermost desire is to slide down and hide beneath the padded table on which he's lying until she loses interest and goes away.

He's afraid of her, and they both know that he's afraid, and it makes him angry. "Don't you have somebody else to fuck around with, you psychotic bitch?"

"Don't hurt my feelings, Roronoa," she murmurs, reaching down to trace her index finger down his chest and chuckling when he recoils, a mewl of distress slipping past his lips before he can quell it. "And here I thought you've been enjoying our time together..."

"I'd rather-" His furious retort ends in a sharp inhalation as her fingertips follow his belly's curve to dip into his groin, and she closes her hand around him, stroking and squeezing in an effort to coax his reluctant flesh into responding, but the swirling whirlpool of disgust and anxiety and muted terror in his head overrides his body's usual automatic reaction, and Zoro's relieved when her attempt fails.

"Mmm, that's disappointing, but I suppose it happens," the Chief Guard sighs, and he ignores her brusque jibe about inefficient swordsmen, desperately hoping that she'll give up and leave him alone.

Unfortunately, it seems as she's got nowhere else to be and nothing better to do at the moment, because she doesn't move from where she's standing over him, her hand returning to his abdomen and cupping it firmly as she gauges the movements within.

"Not too long to wait now, hmm?"

"What the hell do you-" He stops breathing, freezing as her other hand slips between his thighs, forcing them apart as she leans closer, smiling down at the growing alarm on his face, and when her searching fingertips encounter and teasingly circle an area on his body that's still exceedingly tender, the dam straining to contain the reservoir of dark terror and hysteria inside the swordsman's head finally bursts.

Zoro loses control, thrashing wildly in an attempt to simultaneously kick her away and throw himself backwards off the table, not caring that landing on his back and buttocks will probably hurt like hell because all he can think about is escaping her touch. The equipment to which he's tethered registers the disturbance as his panic increases more than just his own heart rate, the machine's steady beeping rising to a more fervent pace.

"Ah-ah, where do you think you're going?" She increases the pressure on his belly, nails digging painfully into his skin on either side of the monitor band, and his struggling slowly subsides until the swordsman's merely trembling under her hands, biting his tongue to keep from whimpering and regretting all the times in the past he's teased Usopp about being a coward, because he finally knows what it's like to feel smothered by fear and inadequacy.

A doctor who's finally worked up the courage to approach, timidly protesting Sadi-chan's actions and reminding her that Hannyabal's technically banned her from the medical bay while their subject's recuperating, scuttles away when she glares at him, making it quite clear that there'll be no rescue coming from that quarter.

The Chief Guard turns her attention back to Zoro, giving his stomach one final warning squeeze before she relaxes her grip, watching in delighted fascination as his jaw tightens to contain a hiss of pain and the tears he's fighting to hold back spring free and roll across his face to drip off his nose when she forces two fingers into him.

"I asked you before, but you never gave me an answer-" She leans down to nuzzle her lips against his shoulder, savoring the way he shudders at her touch but doesn't quite dare to resist. "Did the Mugiwara captain touch you like this? Hmmm~? Did he ever make you feel as good as I do?"

"D-Don't-" He chokes as her fingers curl sharply and teeth sink into the junction between his neck and shoulder. "Nngh!"

There's blood on her lips when she looks up, smiling slyly. "Did the two of you discuss names for your child while he fucked you?"

He tries to tell her to leave his lover out of this - he doesn't want to think about Luffy, not right now, not with her fingers applying pressure right there - but his protest emerges as a garbled whine. Although it hurts less physically, this is far worse than the trident because the stimulation she's providing is sending flashes of pleasure through his body even though he doesn't want it.

"Did your captain have any suggestions?"

Her fingers twist, and he slams the back of his head against the table, nearly crying out in frustration when the padding muffles the blow and doesn't result in him knocking himself senseless like he's hoping. _Oh god, don't do that- I can't- I don't want to-_

"Did he ask you to name it after Fire Fist if it's male?"

That hits a nerve, although it was actually his own hesitant suggestion rather than Luffy's and well worth the expression of stunned gratitude on the younger pirate's face, but Zoro's not going to let the bitch know this, and when his gaze slides away, Sadi-chan frowns.

"You're not going to find the answers on that monitor, Roronoa. Look at me, not the screen."

The swordsman ignores her, nostrils flaring, so she produces a familiar blade from her sleeve and taps the hilt threateningly against his belly. "It's rude not to give someone who's talking your full attention. LOOK AT ME unless you want me using this on something other than your fingers."

He reluctantly obeys, hatred and fear transparent on his face, and she can't help the peal of laughter that escapes her lips, because he still hasn't figured it out.

"Now, that wasn't too difficult, was-"

She's interrupted by the sudden wail emitting from the surveillance Den Den Mushi clinging to the wall over the door, and even before the announcements begin, calling for all guards to immediately report to their emergency stations, Zoro knows.

They're here. They're here to take him back.

The Chief Guard's lips compress into a thin, bloodless line, and she scowls down at the pirate who's staring back up at her with renewed fight burning in his single glaring eye, his teeth bared in a snarl as he struggles to catch his breath.

"Nakama- going to kill you-" He utters a choked bark of slightly hysterical laughter, hating the low, husky pitch of his voice. While he's not sure of the validity of his own statement, because he knows how Luffy feels about permanently dispatching their opponents - the younger pirate avoids it whenever possible - the swordsman thinks his captain might make a special exception for the bitch.

xxx

The second Gate's given way much more quickly than the first, buckling under Surume's unforgiving weight and then bursting wide open to admit the Kraken and the ship in its grasp.

"Stay with him," Luffy insists before turning command of the Sunny over to Nami, who he's ordered to remain onboard with Sanji and Brook. "He'll keep the other ships away, and we'll call you to come get us when we're ready to go."

"Ah, Luffy, are you sure he's going to listen to me?" She asks nervously, peering hesitantly over the side at the huge eye staring up at her.

"Sure," the younger pirate replies blithely, grinning as he watches their friend casually crush a Marine vessel that's wandered too close and missing the way the navigator's face blanches at the sight. "Why wouldn't he?"

He turns aside to draw Franky into an animated discussion on breaking through the portcullis barring them from the prison's entrance, leaving Nami exchanging a skeptical look with the Kraken.

"Err, let's both do our best, shall we?"

xxx

Zoro can't help laughing again, despite his anger and fear and humiliation, at the dumbfounded look on Sadi-chan's face when a guard returns to the medical bay with the news that the Straw Hat pirates have been accompanied by some kind of giant octopus that's systematically destroying every ship in the harbor.

Only Luffy could talk a sea king into joining the crew for a rescue mission.

The Chief Guard seems slightly disconcerted by her victim's amusement, but the swordsman stops laughing when she whips her arm back without looking, cutting the throat of the man who's now apologetically insisting he's been given orders from Hannyabal himself to escort her to the control room. Clutching desperately but uselessly at the gaping gash in his neck, the mortally wounded guard utters a wretched choking sound as he staggers and collapses, one hand pawing blindly for the table's edge, and Sadi-chan lashes out viciously with one foot, kicking him onto all fours and watching his dying convulsions with all the enthusiasm one might spare for an incapacitated cockroach.

"Idiots," she mutters, examining the blood smeared along the length of her blade and smiling at the renewed consternation surfacing on Roronoa's face. "I have no intention of leaving you- mmm, unattended."

He glares at her, and she's disappointed because apparently she's missed an opportunity to push him to the breaking point, but maybe if she plays her cards right...

"It's very possible your crew will come here," she purrs, scissoring her fingers to remind him that he's still at her mercy, regardless of what's happening outside. To her delight, he arches with a muffled curse, bare heels skidding on the table. "What will your captain and your nakama think if they find you- ah, enjoying yourself so zealously?"

"Sencho's- gonna- kick your ass," Zoro grits out, thinking that he really doesn't give a shit who sees him like this - even the goddamn eyebrow cook himself - if they just get him the hell out of here.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that. I'm curious what your captain might do if he bursts in here and I threaten to skewer your belly with this blade." She watches in amusement as he pales and struggles to hold motionless under the knife's flat edge sliding delicately across his abdomen and leaving a trail of the guard's still-warm blood on his skin. "Mmm, I don't know about you, but if he came all this way to save the two of you, I think he might just turn himself in..."

Surrender is antithetic to Luffy's very nature, but the swordsman's seen how the younger pirate places himself in harm's way to protect others, even people he doesn't know or necessarily want joining his crew, and it's entirely possible that he might willingly trade his life if they promise to spare his lover and his child.

Zoro's not gullible enough to believe they'd honor such an exchange; he's well aware that the second his captain allows them to slap Kairoseki handcuffs on his wrists, it's all over.

A brief burst of static passes over the screen of the monitor beside him.

_Oh, shit, no- calm down, damn it! You don't know what'll happen this time if you-_

"You agree?" Sadi-chan laughs, mistaking his horrified expression for a reaction to what she's saying. "I wonder what else Mugiwara Luffy might do to keep you safe..."

She smiles suggestively, flashing white teeth, as her fingers continue pushing him closer to the edge he doesn't want to fall over, and he understands exactly what she's implying and it's getting much harder to curb the frenzied emotions building in him along with the orgasm.

"Mmm, I'm not sure you're going to hold out until he gets here," the Chief Guard purrs, eyeing the color rising in the swordsman's grimacing face. "But that's quite alright, because I'm sure he'll be more than happy to- mmm~ accommodate me - and my subordinates as well, perhaps? - when he understands the situation."

His control slips a bit more at her words. _Shit, shit, shi-_

Ignoring the murmurs of confusion from her peers as they stare anxiously about when every monitor in the room suddenly spits static and goes dark, Sadi-chan laughs excitedly, hearing the growing rasp in Zoro's breathing, and decides now, now she'll give him a clue to what the future holds. "I'm going to play in your guts, Roronoa, after they cut you open, and maybe if he asks me very nicely, I'll convince Hannyabal to let your captain see what you've spawned before it's turned over to the Admirals."

He's been suspecting they're going to kill him eventually, probably without the public broadcasting and fanfare that would normally accompany the execution of a Supernova - not after their monumental mistakes at Marineford - but still with enough pageantry for his demise to serve as a warning for others regarding what happens to bounty hunters who turn traitor, so as unpleasant as he might find it, the idea of being tortured to death doesn't particularly surprise or even frighten him- at least not for his own sake. In fact, if it wasn't for the baby, he might've forced her hand weeks ago, just as he'd inadvertently done without considering the consequences in his cell a few days prior.

Because he's been well aware that his captain's child will die with him, he's been resigning himself to enduring whatever torments she devises, in hopes that he can stay alive long enough for Luffy to reach them, but now- after what he's just been told- their intense interest in his swelling belly finally makes sense and he's run out of time and- _ADMIRALS?_

"-mean nothing to them. Ironic, isn't it?" Sadi-chan laughs, mesmerized by the raw emotion twisting the swordsman's features. "I have to say, I'm looking forward to- mmm, letting loose when I don't have to worry about damaging their precious pawn anymore."

Her admission that the government considers Mugiwara Luffy and Roronoa's offspring as nothing more than a bit of dangling bait intended to hook a much larger fish falls on deaf ears, because she's finally pushed him too far and in the end, it's not her promise to do worse than she's already done but rather the comment about the Admirals that causes his rage and frustration and self-loathing to boil over.

It's nothing like a few months ago, when Zoro's desperation prompted a few partial transformations shortly before Kizaru's foot caught him in the temple and knocked him out. He has no idea what the technique might be doing to the baby inside him, but it's too late to force Asura down, and this time he welcomes the darkness expanding inside his head, drowning out the last traces of fear and humiliation with pure, unadulterated rage, welcomes the sensation of emptiness that washes away the unwanted pleasure threatening to overtake him and especially welcomes the extra unrestrained limbs flickering into existence around his torso.

The chaotic energy roiling through the air causes the nearby monitor to explode first before spreading through the rest of the room's equipment, showering them with sparks and bits of flying debris, and Sadi-chan's lips curl into a elated sneer as the swordsman's thighs lock around her forearm, preventing her from pulling away, because she's got no intention of following the cowards currently fleeing the room.

The Chief Guard's still got the knife in her free hand, and she's never cared very much for mindlessly following the World Government's orders anyway.

xxx

Luffy's fully prepared to deal with the guards sprinting towards him when he steps through the splintered, hanging doors he's just hit with a Haki-enhanced Gear Third fist very much like the one he used to subdue Surume when they first met, but he's not expecting it when they run straight past him.

"Oi, where you going?" He calls after them, scratching his head in confusion. "Don't you wanna fight?"

They don't answer, don't even glance back, just run right out the door- and immediately fly back in, launched through the air by the powerful blow of Franky's right fist.

"What's going on?" The cyborg demands, joining the bewildered captain and tilting his head as he watches more people flee past, some of them dressed in white lab coats, all of them utterly terrified.

Luffy meets Franky's equally puzzled gaze and shrugs. "Beats me, but I'm gonna go find Zoro. Wait here and- I don't know- kick their asses or something?"

There's a few scattered cries of "Mugiwara!" when he wades in, and a few of the hardier, less shell-shocked guards collect their scattered wits and attack the rubber man, but they're easily put down with a few punches and leg sweeps, and he's almost disappointed when he pushes through the next set of doors, because the hallway leading to the cell blocks and lower levels is deserted.

He's heading for the nearest stairwell - something in his gut tells him there's a good chance he'll find his swordsman on Level Six, possibly even in the same cell where they kept Ace - when the smell of smoke reaches his nostrils, and for a moment, he's hit with a strong sense of deja vu, remembering that horrible day in the harbor and fighting back the fear that he's going to find something worse this time.

A loud BOOF followed by a series of pops like miniature fire crackers makes him jump, and then he's moving, tearing down the hallway towards the room from which the sounds - and the acrid odor - are coming.

His feet crunch on glass as he skids through the doorway, and that nearly sends him into a panic as well because it's too much like the aquarium bar tank they still haven't replaced, but he forces back his apprehension and glances around slowly, his brow furrowing in confusion.

The room's strewn with smoking, sparking machines and a handful of dead or unconscious people, some wearing blood-spattered white coats similar to the ones he saw back near the entrance. He takes another step, reaching out to poke a finger at one of the flickering monitors that's still intact, and the sudden crash somewhere behind him as a piece of tottering equipment finally succumbs to gravity startles him badly enough that he nearly puts his fist through the screen instead.

A brief glance over his shoulder reveals nothing except some guy in an ill-fitting lab coat, who's slumped sideways against an overturned table and-

"Zoro!" Luffy cries, tripping on a bundle of cables and nearly falling headlong onto the older pirate as he rushes over to drop down beside him, ignoring the broken glass and metal that bite into his knees as he reaches out. "Oi, I found-!"

He falters, his throat closing up and choking off his greeting, because the entire front of Zoro's body is soaked with fresh blood, including the swordsman's belly where it's jutting from the oversized garment draped around his shoulders. There's splashes of crimson on his face and coating his chin and neck as well, and he's completely motionless.

_No, no, nonononono-!_

The mantra of denial racing through Luffy's head cuts short as his brain registers that while Zoro himself isn't moving, there's a visible ripple traveling across his bare stomach.

Unaware of the whimper rising in his chest, the younger pirate leans forward, extending a trembling hand towards his lover's abdomen. To his surprise, despite the gore obscuring it, the skin's smooth and unbroken and still warm, and the part of his mind that's not gibbering and slamming itself against the inside of his skull supposes that he must have been only moments too late and the blood must have come from his swordsman's mouth.

"What am I supposed to do now?" The captain asks helplessly. He spreads his fingers wider, his breath hitching in his throat as a fist or foot thumps against his palm, and the coldly rational voice inside his head tells him not to be stupid, because he knows exactly what he needs to do and should start looking for a suitably sharp instrument immediately, because by the time he goes back for Chopper-

"No, I can't-" He moans, sickened by the idea, and then yelps, hands flying up as both nostrils start spurting blood because he's just been forcefully head-butted in the face. "OW!"

"D-Don't touch-"

Luffy wipes his throbbing nose on his arm, staring in complete astonishment as Zoro sways and leans back against the table with a faint groan, scrutinizing him through the barely cracked lids of his good eye.

"L-Luf-?"

The rubber man lunges to catch the older pirate as he topples over. "ZORO!"

"Told you-" the swordsman mumbles deliriously, resting both coat sleeve-covered hands on his belly as he's gathered in his captain's trembling arms and cradled gingerly against Luffy's chest before he rises to his feet. "Told you, he'd find us-"

xxx

There's a few guards and a big, half-naked horned guy holding a trident who looks vaguely familiar crowding the hallway when he exits the medical bay, murmuring reassuringly to the unconscious man he's carrying, but they fall back at his approach and one quiet word spoken with Haōshoku sends them to the ground, foaming at the mouth and clutching their throats.

xxx

Once he's outside, standing on the dock and trying to ignore the way his legs won't stop shaking, Luffy kneels and carefully lowers Zoro to the planks, beckoning Chopper to his side as he glances around.

"L-Luffy, that's a lot of b-blood," the reindeer stammers, too shocked to slip into his usual comedic hysteria. "He's- he's coated in it!"

"I know, but I couldn't find any big wounds or anything, so I don't think he got shot or stabbed or anything. Oi, Usopp, tell Nami we're ready for her to come get us."

"S-Sure," the sniper stammers, fumbling for the baby Den Den Mushi tucked into his overalls and nearly dropping it in his haste, because he can't tear his gaze away from the sight before him: their captain hovering anxiously as their doctor peels the blood-stained lab coat away from the swordsman's torso so he can press the stethoscope he's clutching in one quivering hoof to the older pirate's chest.

_Holy shit, he's huge! And his stomach keeps moving on its own- is that-?_

"Usopp!"

"I'm on it, I'm on it!"

"Then make the goddamn call already!"

"Both of you, shut up!" Chopper growls, voice choked with tears as he glares up at his arguing crewmates. "I can't hear anything with all this noise!"

Zoro, who's returned to semi-consciousness during the dispute, flinches away from the sudden shouting, a low whine escaping his throat as he pushes ineffectively at the cold metal instrument bearing down on his chest, too disoriented to recognize who or what's leaning over him. He panics when the reindeer changes forms to pin him gently but firmly with one large Heavy Point hand, his weak struggling accompanied by inarticulate noises of protest.

Responding instinctively, Luffy reaches out, intending to pull the swordsman into his arms again, but he jerks back when his touch unexpectedly causes Zoro to utter a loud cry and roll on his side, pushing Chopper's hand aside as he curls his body protectively around his distended abdomen, shaking uncontrollably and breathing in ragged gasps that sound distressingly like sobs, the pupil in his single eye dilated enormously.

"Sencho-" Robin calls sharply, concerned because Luffy's face has gone alarmingly pale. "You cannot afford to go to pieces now. We need you."

"R-Robin, he-" The captain bites his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, a visible shudder gripping his body as he struggles to regain his composure. "He knew who I was in there- he even talked to me, but now he doesn't recognize-"

"I know, Luffy. I'm sorry." She drops to her knees next to Chopper. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Hold him still," the doctor orders, yanking the stethoscope buds from his ears, because it's no use trying to gauge heart rate with the occasional explosion still rocking the building behind them as Franky blasts Coup de Vents on the few guards still determined to prevent their escape.

"Will this cause him more discomfort?"

"He's extremely disoriented, and his skin's clammy. I need to make sure he's not going into cardiogenic shock, which means checking his pulse and I can't do that if he's fighting me."

The historian crosses her wrists, eyes closing in concentration, and additional arms sprout from the ground to wrap carefully around Zoro's limbs and torso, immobilizing him securely enough for Chopper to roll back his right sleeve-

Luffy gives a strangled croak of disbelief, eyes going wide, and even Robin falters, losing control of her ability for long enough that her extra limbs vanish.

"H-His fingers-" Usopp, who's rejoined them, drops the Den Den Mushi he's been still clutching absentmindedly to clap his hand over his mouth.

They're still frozen and staring when Franky bounds into their midst, waving excitedly and yelling at them to get up and move because the Sunny's finally arrived, surging close enough to the dock that there's a grating screech as Adam wood meets and crushes the weaker planks.

"Let's go!" He roars, whirling momentarily to fire one final volley through the twisted wreckage of the gate before reaching down to grab Luffy's arm to haul him upright, infuriated that they're not using the time he's bought them. "Why the hell aren't you people- oh, SHIT."

The younger pirate turns slowly towards the cyborg, his voice wavering slightly and then strengthening in resolve. "Franky, get them on the ship. I'm not leaving yet."

"What?" The other man demands, bending to lift Zoro carefully in his arms and wincing when the swordsman jolts violently at being handled. "Why the hell not?"

"Never should have rebuilt this place…" Luffy mutters, joints making small popping sounds as he flexes his fingers, and Robin rises to follow him as he turns his back on the ship and stalks back in the direction of the front gates. Usopp hesitates only briefly, reaching out to touch Zoro's hair with one shaking hand as Franky passes him, and then he joins the captain and historian, his eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched.

"There's still people inside," Robin murmurs as they stare up at the smoking structure.

"I don't care."

"They'll die if-"

"Tear it down," the captain snarls, turning his head to glare at her, and the expression on his face is so terrible that his crewmates look away, unable to meet his pain and rage-filled eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

Slamming his oversized armament-coated fists repeatedly into the prison walls and watching Usopp's Pop Green-generated tendrils and Robin's Mil Fleur tear down the stones as Surume helpfully picks off fleeing guards, doctors and prisoners alike with grasping appendages... isn't enough.

The captain doesn't flinch, doesn't even bat an eye at the anguished screams and faint crunching sounds emerging from the beak beneath the Kraken's bulk - although the sniper gags and nearly drops his Kabuto and even the normally unflappable historian goes pale - because it's still not enough.

None of it helps ease the seething furor in his head or heart, and eventually both his crewmates and even the sea monster that far outweighs and dwarfs him in size draw back to watch in silence as he goes berserk on the remaining structure, hurling chains and trees and chunks of mortar into the surrounding ocean, until he eventually runs out of steam and collapses on the dock, panting and wiping sweat from his face with one violently trembling forearm.

It still isn't enough.

Usopp and Robin return to the ship immediately afterwards, looking slightly shaken despite their willing participation in reducing the exposed portion of Impel Down to vine-covered rubble, but Luffy hesitates a moment longer, staring at the devastation and absentmindedly patting the tentacle that slithers onto the boards beside him to brush inquiringly at his shoulder.

He's already asked Surume to carry them through the Calm Belt rather than attempting to travel back through the turbulence of the Tarai Current, where they could potentially find themselves trapped like bait-drawn lobsters in a cage. The Kraken's presence will deter any sea kings from attacking the ship, and he's determined to avoid Marine vessels reporting to investigate any distress calls that might have gotten through to G-1. They can't afford to have anyone chasing them, not now, not with his swordsman so-

_Too long, it took us way too long to- Zoro, I'm sorry..._

When the captain glances back at the Sunny, he spots Franky hurrying across the deck on his way to the helm. The cyborg sees him looking and waves, shouting for him to hurry up and get onboard, and the younger pirate raises one arm in silent acknowledgment and rises reluctantly to his feet, brushing powdered cement from the seat of his shorts.

It's time to retreat to the ship and assess the damage.

xxx

There's a draft moving over his bare skin, and Zoro doesn't understand why, because he vaguely recalls pulling someone's abandoned lab coat from beneath the wreckage of the chair where it'd been hanging and shrugging it painfully over his shoulders before slumping against the overturned table behind him and gazing numbly at the destruction he'd inadvertently caused by unleashing Asura in a room full of electronic equipment. He doesn't remember being found by his captain or being carried on a makeshift stretcher into the infirmary by several of the same nakama now hovering anxiously around him, and while he hears them talking, he's too dazed and disoriented to comprehend what's being said or who's speaking.

"Wh-Where's all that blood coming from? It- It looks like he just sort of- vomited all of it!"

"Luffy said he couldn't find any major injuries, but I won't know for sure until we get him cleaned up so I can see what I'm looking at-" There's a clatter of metal somewhere overhead as the voice's owner moves past. "-but even though he's pale, his color's still too good for blood loss of that volume. I'm not sure all of it's actually his..."

"Did you see his hand? Did you see what they did to his hand?"

"Yeah, I saw... I hope whatever asshole hacked off his fingers got crushed under the building when you guys brought it down." A sharp inhalation. "What the fuck? Are those teeth marks?"

"... jeez..."

"Both of you stop gawking, and somebody help me move him to the bed. No, not you, Sanji- you shouldn't be lifting that much weight yet. Let Nami- ah, thanks, Robin."

He stirs, groaning in objection to the hands touching him and wondering why they can't just leave well enough alone, because if they're going to patch him up again just so someone else can- and then everything tilts crazily for a moment or two as they pick him up. He's already being settled on a much softer surface before he can protest, and he flinches involuntarily at the sudden stinging sensations in his left hand and arm.

"Chopper! Chopper, I think he's waking up!" A distinctly female voice exclaims close to his ear, and he feels breasts pressing against his arm as she leans over him, fingers cupping his jaw to turn his face towards her. "Zoro? Zoro, can you hear me?"

_No, it can't be, because I-_

Soft waves of hair brush his chest, and he recoils in terror-tinged revulsion and disbelief, an involuntary cry of protest escaping his throat when his eye snaps open and he finds her silhouetted form looming over him.

xxx

Luffy's slowly climbing the stairs from the lawn deck to the second level, struggling to ignore the way his heart's hammering apprehensively inside his chest, when resounding cries of alarm suddenly erupt from the open doorway ahead, startling him so badly that he misses his footing and slams chin-first into the top step.

Scrambling briefly on all fours, he's up again before he even realizes that he's fallen, pulse tripling in tempo at the appalled, outraged tone of Sanji's voice as the cook strains to make himself heard over the commotion.

"SHIT! LUFFY, GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!"

xxx

Tearing through the dining hall with his pulse caught in his throat because he's not sure what he's going to find, the captain bursts into the infirmary and freezes with his hands clutching either side of the door frame, because he's just walked into pandemonium.

Nearly everyone is shouting at the top of their lungs for Zoro, who's trailing IV lines and wavering drunkenly as he struggles to remain upright, to drop the navigator he's holding pinned to his chest with his elbow hooked around her throat. Nami's face is pale with shock and fear and confusion, but she doesn't dare move, not with the blade of the scalpel the swordsman's holding pressed to the point just below her ribs, where one hard upward thrust will send it directly into her heart.

An upended metal tray lays on the floor by their feet, surrounded by scattered medical instruments.

"So help me, Marimo, if you don't let her go right now-" Sanji snarls, his fingers twitching helplessly where his arms are restrained at his sides by Usopp and Robin, but despite the implied threat, he's visibly torn by indecision. It's obvious that their nakama's not in his right mind, and the cook can't- won't- risk a kick connecting with the entirely too large target of his stomach. _But Nami- Nami-san is-!_

"Shut up, you idiot-" the sniper hisses, digging fingers into his arm. "Don't provoke him!"

"Wh-What's going on?" Luffy stammers loudly, and Zoro's eye rolls towards the sound of his voice, but the older pirate doesn't give any indication that he recognizes the captain.

"I-I don't kn-" Nami wheezes, gagging as the pressure on her neck increases. She's been forced onto the tips of her toes by the swordsman's belly pressing firmly against her back, and goose bumps rise and fall over her skin when she feels the series of impacts where his abdomen's touching her spine and recognizes the sensation as the baby's distressed movements.

Zoro's breathing, already quick and shallow, speeds up in response to the furious thrashing inside him, and he utters a strange low whine which unnerves her nearly as much as the makeshift weapon he's clutching, because she's never heard the older pirate make such a desperate, frightened noise. Each inhalation contains a slight whistle, as though his throat's closed to a pin hole, barely accommodating the air rushing into his lungs, and there's a forceful blast of heat on the nape of her neck every time he exhales.

"R-Robin-" Usopp peers frantically at the historian around the furious cook. "-can't you-?"

"I'm not fast enough," the historian murmurs calmly, tightening her hold on Sanji's arm as he tries to wrench it loose. "He'll kill her before I can disarm him."

"Sencho-" She addresses Luffy without looking back at him, unwilling to make any sudden movements that might antagonize their agitated crewmate into stabbing the navigator or snapping her neck like a wishbone. "Talk to him. I'm not sure he's aware of where he is or who we-"

"How can you still be alive?" Zoro growls into Nami's ear, speaking for the first time since Luffy carried him, limp and fading in and out of consciousness, from the medical bay, and there's a thread of raw anger underlying the pure panic in his voice. "I tore your fucking throat out, so how can you still be alive?"

"All that blood- it's really not his!" Chopper stammers, eyes widening in realization, and the reindeer tightens his hold on Brook's leg where he's clinging to the skeleton at the opposite end of the room, as he finally identifies the tacky crimson mess drying on the swordsman's body as copious hemorrhaging from someone else's severed carotid artery.

He's always known how strong the overdeveloped muscles in Zoro's jaw and neck must be to grip and swing Wado's not-inconsiderable weight, but-

"Zoro?" Luffy calls, taking one cautious step through the doorway and freezing when Nami utters a high-pitched squeal of pain as the scalpel's tip dimples into her bare skin, pressing hard enough to draw a bright bead of blood. Sanji strains in the sniper and historian's grasp, swearing loudly until Robin claps an extra hand over his mouth.

"Had to use my goddamn teeth, but I KILLED YOU, FUCKING SADISTIC BITCH!"

He's shouting in her ear now, and the navigator squeezes her eyes shut, unsure whether she's starting to cry because there's now a warm trickle worming its way down her stomach into the waistband of her jeans and she's terrified it's just a precursor of what's to come or because, regardless of his words, the swordsman sounds as though he might burst into tears himself at any moment. Despite his iron grip on her torso, she can feel the muscle and sinew in his arm twitching and jumping in rebellion, as though he can barely stand to continue touching her.

_What did they- what did SHE, whoever she is, DO to him?_

"Luffy, the longer he stays agitated, the more stress it's putting on his body," Robin warns, tightening her grip on the cook's arm and mouth as he goes berserk at the sight of Nami's misery. "That's not good for either of them."

The captain nods shakily, mesmerized by the slow downward roll of the pink-tinged droplets of sweat beaded on Zoro's blood-smeared face and heaving chest, and he edges forward a few more inches while the swordsman's distracted but then hesitates, momentarily stumped because he can't try to wrestle the scalpel away without Nami getting stabbed and he certainly can't hit-

"Talk, just talk to him," the historian urges again. "It's better coming from you. Think, Luffy, give him a reason to put it down and let her go."

Talk. He can do that, but for once he doesn't know what to say. "Wh-What should I-?"

"Anything, just let him hear your voice."

"I- okay... Uhm, Zoro?" Luffy swallows, curling his fingers into fists at his sides to prevent himself from reaching out, because while he's almost positive that everything will be alright if he can just touch the older pirate, he also doesn't want to find out differently. "I don't know what happened, but I'm pretty sure Nami wasn't trying to hurt Zoro. Whoever- whoever did isn't here now."

The swordsman flinches, and when the navigator feels him start to tremble where he's pressed against her back, she blinks away the tears oozing from beneath her eyelids, exhaling slowly and willing herself to relax because she can sense he's listening even if she can't see his face.

"Zoro's- we're on the Sunny," the captain continues, meeting Nami's gaze and holding it, and he's relieved when she offers him a nervous but encouraging smile. "Zoro's safe and the baby's safe too, and that damn prison's just a pile of busted up rocks now 'cause Robin and Usopp helped me make sure, and Robin says we probably killed people but I don't care, and-"

_Please, please-_

"L-Luffy-?"

"I thought Zoro was d-dead when I found him," the younger pirate whimpers, and he jams both hands in his pockets because the other man's finally looking at him, really seeing him this time, and Luffy just wants to throw both arms around him and hug him and never let go, but he's still afraid to take the last few steps. "He was all covered with blood and-"

"N-No, it's not mine- it's- oh god-" There's a clatter as the scalpel hits the tile floor, and the older pirate pulls the woman he's holding around to face him, pushing her hair back out of her face with his good hand so he can see her eyes. "Nami?"

"Good to see you too," she tells him timidly and then yelps when he hugs her unexpectedly, embracing her so tightly that she can barely breathe because he's crushing her against his round belly - she's still shocked and utterly amazed at how much bigger he's gotten in the weeks he's been separated from the crew - and the baby's kicking repeatedly against her ribcage and she can feel Zoro's pulse racing erratically against her cheek where her face is smashed into the hollow of his throat. "Ow, not so hard, you big lug- you're squashing me!"

Usopp, Chopper and Brook sigh in relief, and Robin slowly relaxes her grip on Sanji's arm.

"Goddamn it, Nami! I thought you were- I almost-"

Her hands find his back and she pats it awkwardly. "I-I understand. It's okay, it's not your- ah, careful! Luffy, a little help here!"

The captain, who's already rushed forward at the sight of the swordsman's body sagging in her arms, throws a supporting arm around the older pirate before his buckling knees can spill him to the floor, and working together, they help him move back to the edge of the hospital bed.

"Get him laying down," Chopper orders, joining them at the bedside in Heavy Point and reaching out to untangle the twisted IV lines. "No, not on his back! Here, like this. He'll be more comfortable on his side and it won't put quite so much pressure on his internal organs."

Zoro grumbles weakly at being manhandled, offering token resistance, and Nami gingerly catches and holds the wrist of the hand trying halfheartedly to push her away, fresh tears welling in her eyes because it's the maimed one. "Your poor hand-"

"It's just a few fingers," he mumbles, slightly taken aback at the sympathy in the navigator's voice, and when he meets the cook's gaze over her shoulder, they share a moment of perfect understanding that makes the swordsman smirk weakly and Sanji cover his twitching lips with a hand that's trembling only slightly.

_"Nami-swan's so adorable when she plays nursemaid to our injured crewmates- even if it's you, Marimo!"_

_"Shut up, stupid ero-cook!"_

"Just a few fingers?" Nami protests, aghast, ignoring Luffy as he disregards their doctor's exasperated reprimand and climbs into the bed so he can squeeze himself between the wall and Zoro's back, carefully spooning the swordsman's body with his own and rubbing gentle circles on his side, murmuring comforting nonsense to their agitated child.

"-came and got you and Zoro as soon as I could, and I know it took a really, really long time and I'm sorry, but Nami said we needed a pose or we'd get lost and it took me forever to find one and then everybody else said they were coming with me and we had to get Sunny coated so we could go to Fishman Island and get Surume - I wish you could see him 'cause he's huge and really cool and he helped save you and Zoro - and I missed both of you so much and I thought about you every single-"

The older pirate gradually relaxes, losing his determination to fight off the hands touching him as his captain's steadily rambling voice eventually produces a calming effect on both him and the baby, and the tumult inside him settles down a bit until the kicking's much more sporadic and not nearly so forceful. He gives the navigator a grim, humorless smile and flexes his remaining fingers. "I'll deal with it. Besides, at the time it sure seemed better than the alternative..."

"What do you mean?"

"She gave me a choice. My fingers or-" His good hand moves to span the apex of his belly, and there's a sharp whuff of incredulity against his ear, as though someone's delivered a very hard punch to the solar plexus of the rubber man nestled against his back.

"Y-You're joking, right?"

"Said she wanted me to decide which one was more important." He glances over his shoulder and locks eyes with Luffy. "I told her she was pretty fucking stupid for even asking."

"Zoro..."

"Nami- Nami, I need you to move." Chopper nudges the paralyzed, white-faced navigator aside to check the connection of the IV catheter taped to their nakama's hand. "Zoro, I know you're exhausted and you probably just want to go to sleep, but-"

"I'm not tired. I smell like a slaughterhouse, and I want this shit off me. If somebody will just give me a hand, I'll go-"

"No. You're not going to the bathhouse- or anywhere else, for that matter. You're going to stay right here and rest while we take care of you. Luffy, I'm counting on you to make sure he stays in bed and don't you dare let him talk you out of it." The doctor turns to address the rest of the room. "Sanji, some food? Broth would probably be best for now. Usopp, grab a couple extra pillows from the men's quarters. Nami- Nami!"

"Y-Yes?" The navigator asks distractedly, still appalled at what Zoro's just told them and staring fixedly at the swordsman's damaged hand, which he's pulled from her grasp so he can cradle the weight of his captain's child between both palms as Luffy finally resumes petting and stroking his side with timorous fingers, the younger pirate's voice choked with emotion as he apologizes softly again and again for making them both wait so long.

"I need towels and a basin of warm water. Warm, not hot. Brook can go with you."

"Of course, Chopper-san."

"Robin, would you please-" He momentarily draws a blank and stares at the historian, eyes pleading.

"Ah, I understand. Perhaps someone should check if Franky requires any assistance ensuring we're not being followed. I could-"

"Yes, thank you!"

Shutting the door behind them as they depart on their errands, Chopper reluctantly returns to the bedside where his crewmates are curled together, silently noting the way their fingers are now interlaced against the older pirate's prominently bulging abdomen.

"I-I'm sorry for asking this, but I need to know exactly what happened in Impel Down. What kind of conditions they kept you in, what they fed you and what they-" He stops, but there's no doubt in either of their minds what he's asking. _What they did to you..._

Zoro hesitates. He's not exactly embarrassed - it's a rather moot point, considering his crewmates have just seen him naked, plastered chin to groin with drying blood and wearing healing marks on his skin that make it blatantly obvious somebody's been at him - but still feeling a vague sense of shame that he should've been able, should have been strong enough, to prevent the worst of it and still protect the baby at the same time.

The swordsman's aware of the horrible sense of irony given the situation: in the beginning, he tried so hard to hide his changing body from his crewmates, especially back when he was first starting to show and honestly embarrassed by and unwilling to share his developing bump with anyone but Luffy and - more grudgingly - his doctor, but now that he's pushing nine months and feeling and looking positively enormous, he can't quite bring himself to care anymore... not after Impel Down.

Safe. Luffy says they're both safe now, and if being back on the Sunny with his captain's arms around him and not in the prison biting his tongue and desperately hoping that the bitch will tire of toying with him and just do whatever she means to do already- if being here and not there - if being SAFE - means dealing with openly curious and concerned eyes studying the fantastic arch of his belly, he can handle his nakama's steady gazes and quiet murmuring. He's also completely lost his former shyness about other people seeing his hands supporting or caressing his belly, too sidetracked by his anxious desire to discern the baby's movements after being restrained and unable to touch himself for so long- and deeply grateful he's still got most of the fingers needed to do so.

He's not, however, particularly keen to dredge up memories that he's determined remain buried; he can't hide his damaged hand or the fresh bite wound on his shoulder, but the rest of it-

But Chopper is persistent in his assertion that it's important for evaluating both his and the baby's condition, and Luffy is hugging him and firmly declaring that he's never letting either of them out of his sight ever again, so he finally gives in.

It's harder to start than he expected, but they listen patiently to his broken recollection of waking bound and confused, his head aching miserably, during the events that occurred the afternoon Akainu and Kizaru launched their attack, which now seems like it happened an incredibly long time ago.

The swordsman doesn't have any trouble telling them about the Admirals or their obvious disgust at discovering why he'd been so reluctant to take their hits during the fight- like the other Straw Hats, he's still unaware that they already knew long before they approached the ship. He even grumbles a bit about the shitty cook getting his clock cleaned while acting like a goddamn knight rescuing a damsel in distress, but he starts faltering again when his story reaches his admittance to Impel Down. And his first encounter with the bitch.

Sadi-chan is not something he wants to discuss. While the Chief Guard's lifeless body is surely still sprawled on the other side of the table where Luffy found him and probably now covered with several tons of rubble, he can still hear her patronizing laughter in his head and feel her nails raking his flesh, and although Chopper's at least promised him a sponge bath, he's not sure he'll ever feel clean again. He thinks he can also still smell her on his skin, and although he keeps telling himself it's just the metallic stench of blood, he swears there's another odor beneath it- something musky and feral and entirely too intimate.

When he shudders involuntarily, his captain squeezes his hand encouragingly, regarding him with compassionate eyes, and Zoro's rarely seen the younger pirate look quite so serious, but to his dismay, it's still not enough to completely dispel the discomfort and nausea churning in his gut.

_Just tell them and get it over with and try not to think about it too much._

That sounds like an excellent idea, so when he eventually resumes speaking, purposefully tuning out the words emerging from his mouth and focusing instead on the way the baby's nudging repeatedly against the hand he's pressing tightly to his abdomen, he relates the remaining events of the last two months in a monotone and utterly disinterested voice, almost as if he's relating something that's happened to someone else.

He doesn't bother stopping when Usopp returns clutching two huge armfuls of pillows, even though he's in the middle of dispassionately describing the most horrific thing anyone's ever done to him, and by the time he finishes by recounting the first time he's ever manifested Asura without swords, the sniper and doctor are in tears and Luffy looks more upset than any of the crew has possibly ever seen him before, seething with anger as he curls a protective arm around the swordsman's middle.

"Are you sure I can't just go get a shower?"

"Y-You're staying in bed." Chopper feels his heart sinking, because it's quite clear to him that Zoro's deliberately suppressing the true extent of his emotional damage, and the reindeer doesn't need to be a psychologist to know that his nakama's doing himself more harm than good by refusing to acknowledge just how severely he's been maltreated.

He directs Usopp to drop his cache of pillows - the sniper's grabbed every single one from the women's quarters as well, from the looks of it - in the nearby corner and sends him from the room, closing the door and apologizing softly before he begins his examination.

Other than the painfully sensitive stumps of his wounded fingers, which appear as though they've already been cauterized, and the raw semi-circle of tooth marks adorning his shoulder on the same side, as well as a scattering of minor cuts, scrapes and bruises, their crewmate's in surprisingly favorable shape, at least on the outside.

"There's one other thing I need to check," Chopper explains hesitantly. "Zoro, I know you don't want me touching you there, but I need to make sure there's no serious internal damage."

The swordsman doesn't protest or even make a sound when Luffy shifts his lower body aside to make room for the doctor's gloved fingers, but he clutches for his captain's hand, grasping it hard enough to turn the rubber man's knuckles white, and when the Zoan glances up to assure him that it'll only be for a moment or two longer, there's fresh blood on their nakama's lower lip where he's bitten it and his eye's scrunched tightly closed.

"It's okay, it's okay, Chopper won't hurt Zoro," Luffy murmurs needlessly, rubbing his cheek against the older pirate's shoulder. He gives a reassuring squeeze despite his crushed fingers. "-but Zoro's being really brave..."

_That's easy for you to say- damn it, Chopper, hurry up, HURRY UP, that HURTS-_

"Everything's normal," the reindeer sighs, and all three of them visibly relax when he backs away, gratefully stripping off his gloves and flinging them into the wastebasket by his desk, thanking whatever existing higher power's listening that the Chief Guard's serious lapse of judgment doesn't appear to have left any deep punctures or tears in the swordsman's lower bowel, at least not that he's able to identify via a digital rectal examination, anyway.

"I don't know why-" Zoro mutters darkly, easing his death grip on Luffy's hand. "-everybody seems so obsessed with sticking things up my ass."

There's a moment of shocked silence, and then his wide-eyed crewmates make strangled noises that might be denial or horrified laughter until they're interrupted by a knock at the door, and Usopp pokes his head into the room, glaring at them and demanding to know what the hell can possibly be so funny at a time like this before Nami pushes him aside and enters the room carrying a stack of bath towels.

"I-I didn't know how many you needed, so I grabbed-"

"All of them, I see." Chopper finishes. "Over there with the pillows, please."

xxx

By the time Brook returns, staggering under the weight of Sanji's largest metal mixing bowl, because no one can locate a basin - even in the jumbled mess of the storage room which they've packed full of everything that needs repairing or replacing - Nami's regained her composure, slapped a bit of gauze and tape on herself and metaphorically rolled up her sleeves. Arguing with Usopp, because he wants to stay and help here but she wants him to go fetch some extra sheets, the navigator pretends not to notice Zoro flinching whenever she leans over him to sponge more dirt and dried blood from his neck and chest.

"Sorry," he mutters again guiltily when he inadvertently swats her away for the sixth or seventh time, hating the way he keeps choking on his own saliva at the sight of her hand coming closer, because it's just Nami and he knows damn well now that it's just Nami, but-

"I don't mind," she lies, smiling weakly and reminding herself to keep her disappointment from showing in her eyes, because she doesn't want to make him feel worse than he already must, especially considering what she's heard from Usopp after cornering and bullying the sniper into telling her everything he'd heard earlier while she was busy tearing the bathhouse apart in search of more clean towels.

In fact, the navigator's more than a little amazed the swordsman's dealing with everything so well, because she's pretty sure that she'd be reduced to a hysterical, sobbing mess if she personally experienced half of what he's gone through in the past few weeks. After his initial panic - she tells herself again that Zoro wouldn't have stabbed her, not really, and this time she almost believes it - he's been relatively calm and collected, reassuring their distraught captain that he'll be fine and trying to coax a smile from the younger pirate by giving him a play-by-play of the baby's movements.

He's almost unnervingly normal, except for the apprehension he can't quite hide. Seeing him like this, trying so hard to cooperate although he's unmistakably afraid of his own nakama's touch, makes her chest ache.

"Bullshit. You keep jumping every time I move, and it's fucking freaking me out."

He must be incredibly uncomfortable if he's actually admitting that she's upsetting him. "Th-This isn't working too well, is it...? I'm really sorry, Zoro. Is there anything I can do to make it-?"

"Heels-" the older pirate mumbles, flushing when everyone looks at him, and he refocuses his attention on the ceiling above so he doesn't have to meet their eyes. "I can't stand that damn clicking noise- it's driving me crazy..."

Nami's prying off her sandals before he finishes speaking, and she kicks them under Chopper's desk. "Done. What else?"

"Look, don't worry about it- just give me the damn sponge and I'll-"

"I think it's Nami's hair," Luffy observes quietly, his brow furrowing slightly as he pauses to study the way the navigator's barely containing her despair at unintentionally causing the swordsman such discomfort - he knows his crew too well for them to hide what they're feeling from him - and everyone blinks at the captain in surprise, including Zoro himself.

"My- hair?"

"Yeah, I remember from last time when Iva-chan showed up to help me, and Nami's hair... well," the younger pirate continues, wringing out the washcloth he's been using to clean the areas his lover's too skittish to let anyone else touch. They'd originally agreed to let the older pirate do it himself when he'd insisted loudly and somewhat hysterically that he didn't need help, but the captain ended up taking the wet rag away from him when he started scouring his skin raw. "-it's getting really long, kinda like- hers... and it's not exactly the same color, but it's kinda close if I glance over and look away real fast, and-"

The navigator's already rummaging through the desk drawer, searching.

"Oi, Nami, don't-"

"Shut up," she snaps as she gathers her unruly mane into a tight bundle and forces the scissors' blades through the mass of loose curls, staring at Zoro's stunned expression with flashing eyes while severed locks drift down to cover her bare toes. "It's just hair. I don't care if she's dead- I hate that woman, and I'm glad you killed her."


	12. Chapter 12

"So lemme get this straight... Not only did you idiots take this floating deathtrap ten thousand meters underwater and then somehow manage to sail it through some of the worst currents this side of the Grand Line without it breaking in half, but Luffy brought the goddamn Kraken along for the ride, and you're telling me it's still out there, towing us along like a bloody sled dog?"

"Sounds about right."

"... you guys are fucking crazy, you know that?"

"Yeah, well," Sanji drawls, amused by the incredulous scowl on the swordsman's face. "-the captain was pretty adamant that we come save your sorry ass."

Nami kicks the cook under the table, shooting him an infuriated look and hissing at him to watch what he's saying, and he blinks at her in confusion for a moment before his poor choice of vocabulary dawns on him.

"Wha- OH. Oh, shit... uh, sorry..."

It hasn't taken long for the full story of what happened in Impel Down during the past few weeks to circulate discretely throughout the crew; even Chopper, who normally discourages them from discussing what he considers confidential patient-doctor information, reluctantly agrees that everyone will be a lot safer knowing what might inadvertently trigger another panic attack. Planning ahead will hopefully allow them to avoid a repeat of yesterday afternoon, because they now know that, despite being heavily gravid, their nakama's still just barely agile enough to severely injure or possibly even kill someone who accidentally startles him.

None of them will admit it, but knowing he's capable of doing so without any weapons other than his own teeth is slightly unnerving.

To the swordsman's annoyance - but also to his unspoken relief - they've quickly established a short list of rules intended to keep him as comfortable and stress-free as possible: announce your presence before entering the women's quarters, look but don't touch unless you receive a direct invitation, keep all references to your crewmate's time in the government's now-defunct prison to a minimum- in fact, don't even mention it unless he broaches the subject first and then let him direct the conversation. Don't make the mistake of standing between Luffy and the bed because you're likely to get trampled underfoot if Zoro starts tossing and turning while he's napping. Try not to stare.

The green-haired pirate's grumbled at them repeatedly to stop treating him like a goddamn invalid, but it's difficult to believe his muttered insistence that he's perfectly capable of handling anything they might say or do when the wrong words or movements make him tense and watch them warily, as though he's still not entirely sure he trusts his own nakama.

"Sorry," Sanji mutters again, eyes locked on the tabletop before him. "I didn't mean to-"

"Quit doing that walking on eggshells crap around me," Zoro growls. "I told you, I'm fine."

_Sure thing, Marimo. That's real nice, conveniently forgetting you tried to stab Nami-san in the goddamn heart. Or that you get all wide-eyed and spooky whenever one of us forgets to knock before we walk into the room. Yeah, you're fine, alright._

"... if you say so, but-"

"Where'd Luffy go again?" The navigator asks, neatly changing the subject and glaring meaningfully at Sanji to prevent him from continuing. "I'm surprised you're not still attached at the hip."

It's the first time in nearly twenty-four hours that the captain's actually left Zoro's side. Although they've all offered to keep the bedridden man company, too concerned with his mental and physical well-being to leave him completely alone, Luffy's insisted on being present regardless of who's occupying the sofas. No one's challenged him on it, including the swordsman himself, who's spent the entire night dozing off only to wake extremely disoriented and nearly hyperventilating mere moments later, and only his lover's surprisingly gentle embrace and murmured assurances that everything's okay now, he's safe- they're both safe- have been sufficient to calm him whenever he finds himself yanked rudely from the edge of sleep, sweating and trembling and choking back the sounds of panic clawing their way up his throat.

"He's probably in the kitchen. I told him I wasn't hungry but he-" The older pirate halts abruptly, stifling a curse and hugging the pillow in his lap more tightly against his abdomen, prompting his nakama to exchange startled glances and scramble to their feet.

"Oi, you okay? You want me to go get-?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine; don't get your panties in a knot, Curly-brow. It's probably just hiccups."

They frown at him, confused, because he certainly doesn't sound or look like that's his problem, and Zoro snorts wry laughter at their bewildered expressions.

"Not me. The baby." Mouth quirked with amusement and a trace of discomfort, the swordsman shifts his weight, leaning back momentarily to tuck the bedding down to better support his belly and leave both hands free to rub unselfconsciously at his lower abdomen as he tries to ease the persistent tension and aching of the tautly stretched muscles. "It feels all twitchy, kinda like there's bubbles popping in there, and if the hiccups don't wanna stop, he gets pissed and starts kicking the shit out of me. Mmph. Just like now."

He must be right, because the movement rippling across the thickest part of his stomach is prominent enough to be visible from across the room, and Sanji thinks it's definitely one of the weirdest things he's ever seen in his life.

"Is that supposed to be... normal? The, ah-" The cook makes a jouncing motion with one hand as he addresses Chopper, who's just trotted in to join them, medical bag tucked under one arm, after tapping noisily at the door with one hoof to announce his entry. "The kid's okay, right?"

"Enough already," the green-haired pirate mumbles to his belly, quietly enough that no one but the reindeer catches his words. "I know hiccups suck, but that's getting really fucking annoying."

"Yes, it's normal, and Zoro- hiccups at this stage are actually really good because they're most likely a sign of well-developed lung function. It means the baby probably wouldn't have too much difficulty breathing if we scheduled the laparotomy right away, even though you haven't quite reached full term."

"How much longer did you say we gotta wait?"

"Ah," the doctor squints thoughtfully, tapping his chin. "Well, I'd still like to give it at least three more weeks to make absolutely sure we're not rushing things, and we'll need to find some place with decent equipment and somebody to help me- it's not exactly a simple procedure, although it's common enough. I know you're not too thrilled about being on bed rest for that long, but..."

"Jeez, I was hoping I heard you wrong. I feel like a goddamn beached whale- hell, I even LOOK kinda like Laboon," Zoro groans, puffing out his cheeks briefly in frustration. He peers down at his overly distended midsection, wincing and bracing one hand on his lower back when there's sudden pressure as the baby wriggles and struggles to roll over, apparently searching for a more comfortable position. "C'mon, you, gimmie a break- stop rearranging my insides and just go back to sleep already. Ow! That was my kidney, you little bastard!"

When he glances up again, Chopper's hiding an enormous smile behind his hooves, Nami is chuckling and Sanji looks both amused and slightly disturbed, and the swordsman flushes, realizing that although he's been doing it for a while now, it's probably the first time any of them have really heard or seen him directly addressing his stomach. "O-Oi, it's not funny- seriously, the damn kid's worse than Luffy on a sugar high. He's been jumpin' around nonstop ever since he woke me up this morning."

This time the word finally registers and on hearing the matter-of-fact tone of Zoro's voice, as though there's no doubt in his mind regarding what he's just stated, the navigator turns around, climbing to her knees to stare over the back of the sofa in the direction of the bed. "Wait a second... Zoro, did you just say 'he'?"

"Yeah, that asshole quack doctor tried to claim the scan wasn't clear enough to read, but Chopper confirmed it the day we went to the medical center- said it's definitely a boy. What, didn't he and Luffy tell you?"

"No," the red-head turns her head to glower at the reindeer. "They didn't."

"I'm sorry!" Chopper squeaks, dodging over to hide on the wrong side of the sofa where Sanji's sitting. "Luffy said to wait!"

"I said to wait for what?" The captain asks from the doorway, awkwardly juggling the bowl of hot broth he's holding from hand to hand as he struggles to reach back and pull the door closed behind him. To Nami's relief, he finally succeeds in using one foot to kick it shut without dumping the crockery's contents on the carpet, and the navigator makes a mental note to thump the idiot's head later for not having the common sense to use a pot holder.

"You better have left my kitchen in the same state you found it, shitty Gomu.."

"Zoro, food!"

"I said I wasn't- oh, for crying out loud, fine, give it here," the older pirate grumbles, his reluctance to accept the dish being pushed into his hands wavering and finally caving when his lover somehow manages to scowl disapprovingly and give him puppy-dog eyes simultaneously. "Gah, no, just gimmie the goddamn spoon- you don't need to feed me too!"

"Just 'cause Zoro's not hungry doesn't mean the baby isn't," Luffy insists as the utensil's yanked from his hand, his pout turning sunny-side-up when the swordsman sighs and starts obediently ladling soup into his mouth. The rubber man drops to his knees beside the bed, nudging under Zoro's elbow so he can rest his forehead and one hand against the older pirate's belly to address their child, laughing delightedly when there's an answering thump. "Nee hee, food's here just like I promised- didn't I tell you Zoro would listen to me? Betcha he'll do whatever you want too, so you gotta let him know when you're ready to come out and meet everybody!"

"Oi, forget it. One bossy Sencho's more than enough- there's no way I'm letting the kid push me around too." He glances up to find his crewmates watching the exchange with identical grins, as though they're silently contesting his insistence that he's not going to be wrapped firmly around his offspring's little finger. "So you didn't tell anybody we're having a boy?"

"Oh... no, I didn't." Luffy's smile goes slightly brittle around the edges. "Dunno if Zoro remembers, 'cause it was right before he started breaking stuff and tried to strangle that doctor, but we agreed we were gonna wait and tell everybody when they all got back to the ship for dinner. But then- well..."

_Then all hell broke loose, and even though we came and took Zoro away from Impel Down and tore it down before we left, and even though he'd get mad and tell me I'm crazy if I told him this- I think part of him's still there, chained in that cell with HER picking and poking and prodding at him, trying to get under his skin and see how much she can make him bleed..._

There's a moment of excruciating silence as everyone looks anywhere but at each other and, surprisingly enough, it's the rest of them that jump when there's a loud knock on the door, while the older pirate calmly continues emptying his bowl.

"Robin and the skeleton just took watch," Franky announces as he and Usopp enter the women's quarters. "Pretty quiet out there right now. Some weird-ass thing with purple polka-dots and more eyes than I wanna think about showed up about an hour ago, but Calamari-bro scared it off."

The captain glances up at this, looking a bit disappointed that he missed something exciting, but he doesn't budge from where he's kneeling by the bed, knuckles brushing lightly against Zoro's abdomen as he curls his fingers around the loosely knotted belt of the borrowed robe the swordsman's wearing. The garment, which isn't quite voluminous enough to close completely over the older pirate's stomach, was covertly donated by Sanji, although the cook's threatened to stuff Chopper inside the kitchen's giant oven if anyone, especially Zoro himself, catches on to where it came from.

"I don't know what freaks me out more," Usopp mutters as he drops onto the sofa beside Sanji. "The monsters that keep eyeing the ship like it's a floating smorgasbord, or the one we're depending on to keep the other things from eating us."

They've been posting two sentries rather than just one, even with Surume's confidence-bolstering presence, because they're keenly aware that while they're relatively safe from inquisitive sea kings, there's an uncomfortably high likelihood of encountering one or more Marine vessels. And although the Kairoseki-plated ships might normally repel or at least evade the attention of the monstrous creatures inhabiting the Calm Belt, there's no guarantee that the sudden disturbance caused by a pitched naval battle might not draw some very large fish determined to defend their territories, and even the Kraken might find itself hard-pressed to deal with that many opponents simultaneously.

After a thorough inspection, the cyborg's warned them that the ship's in no shape for an altercation of that magnitude, and while having multiple people on watch won't necessary prevent them from sinking if they get caught in a large scale melee, hopefully the extra eyes will allow them to spot trouble coming far enough in advance to formulate a plan of retreat.

Zoro's spoon reaches the bottom of his bowl with an audible scrape, and he shoves the empty dish into his captain's waiting hands. "There. You happy?"

"Yeah," the younger pirate beams, pleased, and watches contentedly as the swordsman rearranges his mountain of pillows so he can lie down, fussily adjusting the ones cradling his abdomen until he's finally satisfied with their configuration and relaxing with a faint sigh, relieved that the new position's taken some pressure off his disgruntled spine. Curling on his side with his knees pulled up under his belly still feels a bit strange, but it's far more agreeable than his usual habit of sleeping on his back, which he hasn't been able to do for some time now. The baby's increasing weight makes it too uncomfortable, putting too much pressure on his bladder and making it too hard to catch his breath.

Sanji chuckles, nudging Usopp's shoulder. "Marimo really does look like he's nesting now, doesn't he?"

"Yeah," the sniper snorts. "I figured he'd want some extra pillows, but I didn't expect him to use ALL of them. I hope I'm gonna get mine back eventually."

"If looks could kill..." The navigator indicates the one-eyed glare aimed in their direction. "Don't tease him- I can't imagine how uncomfortable it must feel lugging that belly around. Chopper, are you positive it wasn't twins you saw on that scan?"

"Please-" Franky mutters, before the doctor can assure them that he's quite certain it's not and that although the swordsman might look exceptionally rotund to them, he's actually quite a bit undersized, considering he's got no uterus to add extra padding. "One kid will be more than enough to keep us on our toes. If Haramaki-bro here starts poppin' out a whole goddamn litter, I may just jump off the ship and swim for it."

The cyborg's remark and Zoro's responding grumble eases a little more of the tension, and Sanji and Usopp look at each other and snicker conspiratorially.

"Damn, can you just imagine? An whole horde of mini Marimos?"

"The Grand Line would never be the same."

"That's enough," Nami scolds, but she's barely containing laughter herself at the mental image of Zoro swarming with miniature versions of himself, all tugging at his trousers and haramaki and clamoring loudly for attention while wearing identical scowls. "Although Franky's right- one baby's plenty. Any more than that and once they started crawling, we'd have to tether the lot together to keep them from getting lost."

"Thanks a lot," Zoro complains as his nakama dissolve into laughter, but he can't quite hide the smile tugging at one corner of his mouth because he's glad to hear their stupid banter even though they're poking fun at him. "All four of you, c'mere so I can smack you, 'cause I'm sure as hell not getting up to go over there."

"Shishi-" Luffy's doing a poor job at disguising his own amusement, but he summons a sincere expression when his lover leans his head back to eye him suspiciously. "-mmph. Does Zoro want anything else?"

"Well... my back kinda hurts," the swordsman mutters grudgingly, his statement holding a tone that says he doesn't want to admit exactly how much it's actually bothering him. "Don't know why- the kid can't weigh more than a few pounds, and I don't even own any barbells that light."

The captain, who's already set the bowl aside and climbed into bed to curl up behind him, applies gentle but firm fingers to his spine, laughing softly and leaning forward to nuzzle his cheek against the older pirate's shoulder blade. "Yeah, but Zoro doesn't carry his weights around in his tummy."

"Nah," Zoro murmurs, his eye drifting closed. "Just your hyperactive brat."

"Not just mine- he's Zoro's too. He's ours."

"Mmm..."

"Oi, I don't mean to interrupt you guys being all maternal- paternal- gah, whatever you want to call it when you're doing the weird lovey-dovey parenting thing with each other," Sanji says suddenly, "-but exactly how long do we plan on letting our excessively large friend out there tow us around while we hope like hell that we don't run into somebody who'll take one look at our beat-up ship and think we're an easy mark?"

"What about Amazon Lily? The Isle of Women's already right here in the Calm Belt, and I'm sure-" Usopp suggests, but Luffy's already shaking his head.

"Forget it- I don't want Zoro or our kid anywhere near Hancock. She's nice enough when it gets her what she wants, but she's still determined I'm gonna marry her no matter what I say, and she might come up with some stupid idea that she'll - I don't know - win me over or something if she gets rid of Zoro." He refrains from giving his other reason for wanting to avoid Amazon Lily, although he suspects that Nami's guessed it from the slight tremble of the navigator's hand as she tucks her shortened hair - which Robin helped her trim to a more even length last night - behind one ear.

Too many women, and while Zoro's been fairly calm around their other male crewmembers, unless someone other than Chopper or Luffy himself touches the older pirate without giving him fair warning first, he's definitely still nervous around Nami and even slightly leery of Robin as well, although the historian looks nothing at all like the Chief Guard.

Requesting permission from Hancock to land on an island occupied entirely by strangers of the female persuasion does not strike the captain as a particularly bright idea, and she's sure to refuse anyway, when she gets a good look at the cook, who's likely to turn to stone even if the Pirate Empress doesn't immediately use her Mero Mero no Mi powers on him, and especially when the crew's forced to explain why they want to lie low for a while.

_Besides, Hancock might've tricked and even fought against the Marines a few times when she was trying to help me save Ace, but she's still a Shichibukai. She's gonna be mad as hell that somebody else is pregnant with my kid, even if Zoro's- no, ESPECIALLY 'cause Zoro's a guy and she HATES guys. If she doesn't try to kill him directly, she might try to turn him over to the World Government instead..._

The idea of his lover - and by default, their son - falling back into enemy hands and ending up locked in a cell again - or possibly even another weird lab like what he discovered inside Impel Down - greatly disturbs the younger pirate. He doesn't know why those people would be so interested in an unborn child, but apparently they are- at least according to what Zoro learned during his captivity. Unless Sadi-chan was lying about turning the baby over to the Admirals and just fishing for a violent reaction from her stubbornly tight-lipped victim.

_She sure got one, alright._

Luffy blinks when the swordsman under his hands utters a muffled grunt and goes limp, fairly melting against the mattress, and he realizes that he's been kneading a lot more vigorously in his growing agitation than he intended. "Oop-"

"Nngh. Don't stop or I'll tie your balls in a goddamn knot."

"Uh, Zoro, aren't you supposed to threaten to do that kind of stuff when you- well, no, Chopper did say you're not going to actually go into labor, didn't he..." Usopp shrugs. "So, anyway, scratch going to the island of homicidal women who seem to hate all men except Luffy-"

"Some bastards get all the luck," Sanji interjects. "I'd still like to know how-"

"SOOO, what about-"

"Water Seven." Nami proclaims, with an air of finality, and the sniper shoots her a dirty look for beating him to the punch, but Franky is nodding enthusiastically.

"Bakaburg's got enough connections to stay pretty well informed on the Marines' movements, and he's got access to all kinds of medical junk in case the Galley-La guys get hurt working in the shipyard. I'm sure he'll have whatever the reindeer-gorilla here needs to deliver that baby."

Despite his pained expression at the cyborg's choice of words, Chopper can't keep the excitement from his voice. "Do you think he's got Balfour retractors?"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but, yeah, probably."

"High-grade stainless steel!" The doctor exclaims gleefully, launching into an overly detailed explanation that leaves everyone else cringing, except for Zoro, who pegs a pillow at the ecstatic Zoan and growls that he better stop talking about Pfannenstiel incisions and the pros and cons of overhand versus underhand grips for tissue retraction before the captain, who's turning decidedly pale, either faints or pukes on him.

"I dunno if I want anybody doing that to Zoro- maybe I'm really not ready for this whole having-a-kid thing," Luffy protests nervously, and the swordsman grinds his knuckles into the younger pirate's ear, angrily indicating his bulging abdomen as he points out that it's a bit too late to be getting cold feet now.

xxx

Nami assures the captain that she's more than capable of navigating them to Water Seven using the sea train tracks as a guide, but they'll need to pass uncomfortably close to Enies Lobby again, hopefully without drawing too much attention to themselves this time, so the younger pirate reluctantly agrees to temporarily take down the Jolly Roger and turn Surume loose once they exit the Calm Belt and get their bearings.

After much debate and some collaboration with Robin, who's joined the discussion via an ear and a pair of lips sprouted on the closet door, promising to relay the conversation to Brook when they pass each other during their deck patrol, they eventually have a simple but logical plan: ask Iceburg to use his considerable influence to hide them for the next three months or so, long enough to complete repairs on the Sunny, give Zoro enough time to recover from major surgery and let him, Luffy and the rest of the crew start getting accustomed to the daily routine of caring for the new baby.

"Nah, don't worry," Franky laughs when the swordsman, who can't help feeling slightly unnerved at the prospect of being seen by acquaintances other than his own crewmembers, asks hesitantly if the mayor's going to have a problem temporarily sharing his household with an infant. "Bakaburg's a sucker for small cute critters- remember that mouse of his?"

"Assuming that whatever those two produce is legitimately cute and not a three-headed Haki-powered rubber child capable of levitating small objects with his mind," Sanji mutters a bit more loudly than he intended, and Nami hits him. "Ow. Don't worry, shitty swordsman, I'm sure your kid's gonna be positively adorable- as long as he takes after Luffy. Ow! Nami-swan's fists of love are especially potent today~"

"... stupid asshole ero-cook."

xxx

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief when the ship slips past the Judicial Island without incident, and when the captain ends his tense, self-appointed vigil at the helm and hurries back to the women's quarters to tell Zoro and Chopper that it looks like everything's proceeding without a hitch, he's surprised to find Sanji already standing by the bed and delivering the news, along with the pillow the swordsman flung at the doctor earlier.

The cook's actually in the process of fluffing the cushion and tucking it carefully against their nakama's lower back, his low grumbling and the dark scowl on his face belied by his actions, as Luffy pushes open the door, barely remembering to fling up an arm and rap his fist on the lintel before he crosses the threshold.

"Marimo wouldn't stop bitching until I helped remake his nest," Sanji mumbles sheepishly, crossing his arms and moving aside to make room for the younger pirate. "I just wanted him to shut up."

It's a feeble excuse and not entirely truthful, judging by Chopper's quiet giggling and Zoro's sleepy expression of bemused annoyance, but the rubber man just flashes a knowing grin at the embarrassed cook and snuggles closer to the swordsman, reaching over to lace his fingers with the older pirate's where they're resting against his belly.

Taking a nap seems like an excellent idea. Nami's at the bow, ensuring they're moving steadily towards safety, even if the Sunny's Paddle-Wheel mode won't get them there as quickly as Rocket Man once sent them in the opposite direction, and Luffy - who hasn't gotten decent rest in weeks and none in the past seventy-two hours - thinks he's more than ready to sleep the entire way to Water Seven.

The ship rocks slightly, prompting a sharp intake of breath as the movement startles Zoro from the uneasy doze into which he's unconsciously slipped.

"Shh, s'okay," the captain murmurs reassuringly against his lover's neck. "S'just Surume."

xxx

It's at least fifteen minutes later - although it seems only moments since the swordsman finally relaxed enough to fall asleep in the warm, protective arms holding him securely against the younger pirate's chest - that they're roused by heavy, hectic knocking and the women's quarters' door banging open against the wall as Franky bursts into the room. "OI!"

"Shhh!" Sanji, Usopp and Chopper hiss in unison, glaring at him from the sofas, but the cyborg takes no notice, crossing the carpeted floor to drag Luffy, dazed and bleary-eyed, to his feet by the scruff.

"Wake up, Mugiwara. We got unwelcome company- looks like a G-1 ship comin' up fast on the starboard bow."

"Damn," Sanji mutters, exchanging a disgusted look with his crewmates as he rises and loosens his tie so he can unbutton the collar of his shirt. "I knew it seemed like things were going a little too well... Alright, guys, let's-"

"No," Chopper tells him sternly. "You and your fractured ribs are staying here and keeping Zoro company."

"But-"

"NO."

"Son of a bitch." Sanji drags the vanity chair over to the bedside and drops into it facing the wrong direction, crossing his arms on the backrest. "Guess it's just you and me, Marimo. Bloody Marines picked a hell of a time to show up."

"Nngh, couldn't they have waited a few hours at least?" Luffy groans, rubbing his knuckles into his eyes and stifling a yawn. He wriggles away from the huge hand clutching his collar and turns back to Zoro, who's rolled over to stare worriedly up at him, reaching out to caress the swordsman's cheek. "I'll be right back, okay?"

_Nobody's gonna lay a finger on either of you again, not over my dead body._

"Luffy, wait-" The captain's out of reach and heading for the open door before Zoro's able to grab his hand, and the older pirate pushes himself up on his elbows, struggling to haul himself into a sitting position. Luffy's far too tired and- hell, they're all severely exhausted and strained nearly beyond their limits, completely unprepared to deal with an attack now. Not without someone getting seriously injured or killed. "Oi, Luffy, w-"

As he forces himself upright, wincing, he doesn't register the growing discomfort in his abdomen as a tugging sensation until it abruptly ends, leaving him with the distinct impression that something's either given way or pulled free inside him.

"Hiccups again?" Sanji teases at Zoro's startled grunt, smirking as the swordsman's hands fly up to span both sides of his belly. "Guess your kid's gonna have one really good set of lungs. Probably keep everybody awake all-"

He falters as the color drains from the other man's face until there's no mistaking his nakama's alarmed expression for anything but horrified comprehension.

"No, no fucking way-!"

"M-Marimo-?"

"You gotta be fucking kidding me! I wasn't doing anything Chopper told me not to- I wasn't fighting and I wasn't even lifting anything; all I did was sit up! How-" The baby shifts, sending a crippling spasm of pain through his gut, and everything inside suddenly feels wrong- too loose and disconnected and watery. "Hnnh- oh, oh shit."

"O-Oi, did you just-?" The blond's eyes widen as the swordsman hunches forward with his hands now clutching desperately at his belly, and when he speaks again, Zoro's use of his real name scares the cook nearly as badly as the way his crewmate's speaking through clenched teeth and regarding him with poorly concealed terror.

"Nngh, S-Sanji-? Sanji, I don't think- I don't think we're gonna make it to Water Se- oh, oh fuck, that hurts-"

"LUFFY! CHOPPER! CHOPPER, WE NEED YOU RIGHT NOW!" He doesn't need to yell - they're both only a few feet away and the reindeer's already rushing over - but he can't restrain his panic, bellowing their names again as he bolts out of the chair and kicks it aside. "GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE, YOU SHITTY BASTARDS!"

The captain, having somehow sensed that something wasn't right even before he heard Zoro's cryptic statement or Sanji's shouting, is also halfway back to the bed when he's stopped short by Franky barring his way with one massive arm.

"Franky, move! Zoro's-!"

"Let the doctor do his job," the cyborg admonishes, sweeping the struggling, protesting younger pirate towards the open door. "Come on, Mugiwara! Holding his hand won't do either of you any good if the goddamn ship starts sinking!"

Luffy knows what Franky's saying is true, but he still can't help clawing his way up the much larger man's torso for one last frantic look before he's forcibly ejected from the women's quarters, his eyes meeting Zoro's panic-stricken gaze as Chopper pushes the swordsman down and orders him to hold still.

xxx

The captain's entirely too distracted by the persistent alarm bells clanging in his head, and his fear completely blows his concentration. He manages to bounce away most of the cannonballs spinning towards the ship, but he takes one directly in the head when he hears a door open behind him and glances around to see Usopp charging past in the direction of the dining hall and the infirmary, and several minutes later, another plows into his chest, knocking him right off his feet, as he pauses again to watch the sniper streak back across the lawn deck with an armload of medical supplies, half of which he can't identify.

He's dimly aware that he'd be dead twice over if it wasn't for his unique physiology, but he's never spared much thought for his own safety during battles anyway and his preoccupation with the predicament facing his swordsman - and their child - is making him even more careless of himself than usual.

"SNAP OUT OF IT!" Franky roars, leaping to the helm and bashing a projectile from the air before it can hit Nami, who's clutching the wheel and struggling not to lose the faint shimmer of the sea train track beneath the surface despite the battle raging around her. If they misplace it now, there's no telling where they'll end up, and while they've still got the eternal pose for Fishman Island, the ship won't survive another trip without repairs- and Zoro's already running out of time. "YOU'RE GONNA GET US ALL KILLED IF YOU DON'T STOP DAYDREAMING AND START KICKING ASS!"

There's a round of explosions below-decks as Robin utilizes her Akuma no Mi abilities to fire all their starboard cannons simultaneously.

Luffy can't shake the lethargy that's gripping his brain; he's still dazed from being woken so suddenly after too little sleep, too rattled from being clouted repeatedly by the enemy fusillade and too worried about what's going on behind the closed door he's determined to defend.

So when the Marine vessel attacking them breaks suddenly and unexpectedly in two as it's driven from the water by the submarine rising beneath it, so close that bits of splintering planks rain down on the Straw Hats' ship, the rubber man's too overwhelmed to do more than stop and stare, dumbfounded, as his confused nakama shout to him and point excitedly at the man emerging from the new vessel's hatch, nodachi held casually on one shoulder.

"You guys looked like you could use a hand," Trafalgar Law calls, nonchalantly kicking a wounded man in uniform over the side of his ship before he leaps easily across the gap separating the two captains to balance on the Sunny's railing. "Been a while, Mugiwara-san- we've gotta stop running into each other like this, eh?"


	13. Chapter 13

Author's note: Now may be an excellent time to tell you that there are TWO endings to this fic. I never intended to write an alternate ending, but after following your comments as I posted new chapters, I changed my mind, much to the relief of my beta- although he admits to liking them both, each for very different reasons. The second version diverts partway through this chapter (it won't be difficult to guess where).

Also, if you didn't already catch it already, Crossfire has its own section for drabbles, many of which will be stupid-cute, which I totally needed while writing the main story...

xxx

"You keep some interesting company, Mugiwara-san. Bepo insists he looked out the porthole and saw the biggest goddamn octopus he's ever seen jetting away from your ship, but he could've been hallucinating, 'cause I sure as hell didn't see anything."

"Wha-? Oh, yeah, Surume's going home," Luffy tells the Heart pirate distractedly as he backpedals towards the bow, desperate to get back to the women's quarters and find out what's happening with his swordsman and their child. While he'd normally be thrilled about running into his- honestly, "friend" might not be the most appropriate designation for the man, considering they're technically rivals vying for the same mysterious treasure. Well, whatever their relationship might be, small talk will have to wait. "Look, thanks for giving us a hand, but- sorry, I really really gotta-"

"What's the rush?" Law frowns, following. "You look like some really bad shit went down. What the hell's your crew been up to, hopping back and forth across the Red Line and stirring up the Marines like you're poking a stick at a fuckin' hornets' nest?"

"They started it," the rubber man growls back, and the other captain raises an eyebrow at the tone of his voice, because it sure sounds like the Straw Hat pirates have got a serious vendetta against somebody right now.

"Really."

"Crap, just come with me, okay? Maybe Law can help..."

_What the hell_, the Heart pirate decides. It's not like he's got anything better to do at the moment. Besides, he was intrigued enough by the crew's sudden and erratic abandonment of their plotted course to follow them all the way back to Paradise, so he might as well satisfy his curiosity and find out just what's got Straw Hat so riled up.

_If I hadn't lost 'em between here and G-1, I'd already know. Current shoved the damn sub right out into open ocean and it took fucking forever to find their ship again._

Whatever they've been doing, it's clearly taken a toll- not just on the pirates themselves – the captain looks as though he's all but dead on his feet - but on the vessel as well. The hull seemed normal enough from below the surface, but now that Law's actually on-board, it's evident that they've engaged in a serious skirmish or two.

"Jeez, what happened to your ship-?" He mutters, glancing around at the blackened timbers and dead grass as Luffy leads him across the lawn deck towards the stairs.

"The Marines happened."

"Luffy, what the hell's he doing here?" Sanji demands when they reach the next level, rummaging in his pocket for a toothpick, and the knot in the younger pirate's stomach tightens when he sees how worried the cook's pretending not to be, because he's apparently unaware that he's already got one in his mouth.

"He told me I might be able to help." Law shrugs. "You guys got somebody that's hurt?"

"Something like that," Usopp mumbles from where he's sitting on the railing, staring down at his trembling hands. "Chopper kicked us out as soon as the fighting died down, said Zoro didn't need us hovering all over him."

"And I told you, he's right. What Zoro needs is- OH!" Nami, who's emerging at the sound of raised voices outside with a water glass clasped tightly in one hand, cuts short her diatribe about giving the ailing swordsman some badly needed peace and quiet when she spots their visitor. She's beaten the crewmembers defending the ship back to the women's quarters, temporarily abandoning her post at the helm because Franky's dropped the anchor. "What's he still doing here?"

"That's what I asked." Sanji growls.

"Law's a doctor. He helped me after Marineford." Luffy says simply, trying not to notice how badly his hand's shaking as he reaches past the navigator to push the door open further, and his statement ends his nakama's protests, because they've all heard the story behind the huge starburst-shaped scar on their captain's chest.

"What the hell's going on here? You got somebody who's sick or injured or not?" The Heart pirate's getting a bit confused, because they keep looking at him and each other and then looking away. _Maybe all that talk about their crew running into trouble with the Admirals wasn't just idiots blowing off steam; their ship's sure shot to shit, and it's not just Mugiwara himself- every one of 'em looks downright twitchy._

"I- just come on."

"Careful!" Nami admonishes, flattening herself against the door to prevent the glass she's holding from spilling as the Straw Hat captain squeezes past her. "This is for Zoro. Chopper said he's getting plenty of fluids through the IV, but he's complaining his mouth is dry."

Law glances back at the other Straw Hats, but they just stare and don't offer any explanations, so he pushes his way into the room beyond.

xxx

Chopper's eyes widen slightly at the sight of the other pirate following his crewmates through the doorway, but he doesn't leave the bedside, just moves further down the mattress and scoots the IV stand retrieved from the infirmary over a bit to give Luffy somewhere to stand. He's glad to see the rubber man's calmed down a bit, because it's taken nearly half an hour to convince Zoro that he needs to rest while the doctor determines just how dire a situation they're facing.

From the exam results he's procured so far- things aren't looking too good.

"Zoro?" The captain asks quietly, brushing his knuckles against his lover's sweat-dampened cheek, and he's relieved when the swordsman opens his eye to peer wearily up at him, because he's almost ashen in color and if not for the steady rise and fall of his chest, he'd probably look-

"L-Luffy..."

"How's Zoro feeling?" He knows it's a stupid question even as it slips from his mouth, but the older pirate offers him a slightly crooked smile.

"I feel like shit... I'm getting kinda dizzy, and your damn brat won't stop kicking me," he mumbles, sighing shakily as Luffy's hand leaves his face to gently rub his belly. "Maybe you better tell that shitty curly-brow cook he'll have to teach the kid all that screwy jumping around, 'cause I might not-"

"Zoro's not gonna die, so he shouldn't talk like that," the rubber man scowls. "Oi, Law. C'mere, and meet our newest crewmember."

The Heart captain joins them, blinking curiously down at the pirate he immediately recognizes as Roronoa Zoro. The man's one eye short compared to the last wanted poster Law's seen - spending much of the time submersed tends to make finding the submarine rather difficult for the news gulls - but he knows he's not mistaken because no one else shares that distinct green hair. The surgeon cocks his head, brow furrowing as he gestures at the prominent bulge on which Luffy's palm is resting. "Wait a minute, you gotta be shitting me- you knocked up the Pirate Hunter? How the hell-?"

"Don't think about it too hard," Zoro mutters, lifting a hand to rub his face and flinching because he's unthinkingly used the injured one, which throbs nauseatingly when he accidentally jars the stumps of his missing fingers. "-because you'll just give yourself a headache."

"Yeah, Zoro's having my kid." Luffy growls, shifting a bit so he's standing defensively between his swordsman and the other captain. "Gotta problem with that?"

"I- err, no." Law laughs incredulously at the way the younger pirate's glaring at him. "Chill out, Mugiwara! It just threw me for a second or two- you've certainly got one of the most interesting crews I've ever met."

"You have no idea," Nami adds from where she's standing beside Robin, who's slipped into the room and joined the navigator by the sofas while Sanji, Usopp, Franky and Brook crowd in the doorway, kept at bay by an anxious but stern look from Chopper and too flustered to squabble even though they're stepping on each others' toes. "Ah, I'm sorry, Zoro- you said you wanted this?"

"Hold up a sec," Law frowns, waving her back as he scrutinizes the other man over Luffy's shoulder. He shrugs his nodachi off his shoulder and leans it against the back of the nearest sofa, rolling back his sleeves as he steps closer. "Scoot over."

The Straw Hat captain moves cautiously out of the way, but he doesn't go far, clutching tightly at the sleeve of his lover's robe as though concerned that someone's going to chase or forcibly remove him from the room again. He watches the Heart pirate's hands intently as Law inches his fingertips along Zoro's abdomen, tensing and opening his mouth to protest when the application of firm pressure draws a pained hiss from the swordsman.

"Settle down, Mugiwara- I'm not trying to hurt him or your kid. Oi, Tanuki, lend me that? And give me a case history."

"Reindeer." Chopper corrects automatically as he passes over his stethoscope, lapsing into medical lingo because it's his only defense against the panic threatening to overtake him. He's treated any number of illnesses and injuries since becoming a doctor but hasn't had the opportunity to do more than merely assist with a few minor surgical procedures, and he's utterly terrified that dealing with this particular emergency is beyond his skill level. Pouring over his medical texts and plotting out a laparotomy in his head is one thing, but actually performing it is another matter entirely. "Patient is exhibiting classic signs of hypovolemia stemming from intraperitoneal hemorrhage. Advanced abdominal pregnancy approaching thirty-six weeks in duration with placental engagement of the jejunum, ileum and surrounding mesentery. Patient also recently sustained phys-"

He swallows. "-physical trauma resulting from torture and s-sexual assault following two months imprisonment in- in Impel Down."

_Huh, so the rumors about Roronoa being captured were true after all._

There's soft noises of distress from the crew and a choked growl of anger from their captain, but the subject of their commiseration meets their gazes without flinching, looking completely unruffled and almost as though he's wondering why his nakama appear so discomfited.

"Jeez, it's not like I almost died from it or anything, you morons." Zoro utters a weak but exasperated snort, his attention turning to Law. "Really, it's not that big of a deal- just some shit that happened before they showed up to bust me out."

The faces of the other pirates tell a rather different story, and Law finds himself a bit unnerved by the expression on Luffy's face, so it's clear there's a lot more to the story than "just some shit," as the green-haired pirate claims.

_Oh oh- I think your crew's got some rough days ahead, Mugiwara, if your swordsman pulls through this..._

The surgeon inspects the IV connection, hums in approval, and carefully adjusts the drip. "I'm surprised you're still pretty calm and coherent considering how much pain you're probably feeling."

"I've had worse. Besides, it's not like flipping my shit's gonna do any good, right?"

"Ha, nice to know you've got some brains to go with the brawn, Roronoa-san. I wish all my patients had that much common sense. Oi, Tanuki-"

"Y-Yes?" This time the Zoan's too rattled to correct the mistake.

"What was his last systolic blood pressure reading, and when did he start sweating profusely?"

"Ah, l-last reading was-" Chopper's voice wavers slightly and then strengthens as he steels himself and persists, reassured by his peer's sedate manner.

The other Straw Hats exchange nervous glances as the doctors' conversation continues, both physicians discussing the swordsman's condition at a progressively accelerating pace and tossing about complicated and mysterious medical terminology that leaves everyone else in the dust, with the possible exception of Robin, who pats several shoulders and smoothly assures her nakama that Chopper and Law both know what they're doing.

"Tachycardia's still increasing," the Heart captain announces suddenly, frowning as he adjusts the earpiece he's momentarily loosened and listening intently to the rapid thumping beneath the stethoscope's cup before shifting it to Zoro's back to listen to his lungs. "Same with rate of respiration. I'm betting he was already starting to bleed internally when you guys carted him out of Impel Down, but the tissue didn't start seriously hemorrhaging until he strained himself sitting up. You're probably looking at stage three hypovolemic shock very shortly, especially if the placenta tearing free damaged his lower intestine as severely as I suspect. You got enough plasma on-hand for a transfusion?"

The reindeer nods, pointing at the small frost-coated cooler resting on the floor nearby. "I've got more than enough AB units to handle a stage four."

Since Sanji nearly died from blood loss during their first visit to Fishman Island, the doctor's been stockpiling plasma, harassing the entire crew into donating as frequently as possible until he's acquired enough to require his own specially-marked section in the freezer of the ship's enormous kitchen fridge, because he has no intentions of repeating that frantic race to find suitable donors.

"Good, 'cause you might end up needing all of it." Law yanks the earpieces free and drapes the instrument over his shoulder. "Okay, here's the deal, Mugiwara-san: there's a good chance your swordsman's already lost close to thirty percent of his blood volume, which wouldn't normally be enough to kill him if this was something simple like a knife or a gunshot wound- your tanuki here could just patch it up and go from there."

"However, because the injury's internal, he's losing blood directly into his abdominal cavity, which means there's no way to stop it without cutting him open." He gestures to Zoro's belly, which is twitching visibly from the unrelenting kicking occurring inside, causing the worn-out man to flinch as each blow's accompanied by a viciously sharp twinge of pain. "Although, there's not much choice at this point anyway- even if Roronoa wasn't already bleeding to death, your baby's freaking out 'cause there's no oxygenated blood passing through the umbilical cord without the placenta intact. The kid's going to eventually suffocate unless somebody performs an emergency laparotomy."

"B-But I don't have the equipment here for that procedure!" Chopper wails, nearly backing off the foot of the bed in his growing panic, and the Heart pirate reaches out to catch him before he falls to the floor and sets him on the empty vanity chair's seat. "That's why we were heading to Water Seven, b-because I need retractors and- and-!"

"What do you need with that fancy shit for? You've got plenty of people here with hands, don't you?"

"But- BUT I CAN'T! Not without-!"

"Fine- then tell your captain he can kiss 'em both goodbye, 'cause there's no fucking way Roronoa or his kid are gonna last 'til you get this heap of floating junk to-"

"Oi!"

"What the hell? Don't say that kind of shit in front of-!"

"WAIT." Luffy's already familiar with the Heart pirate's brusquely candid attitude, so he doesn't join his crew's enraged muttering at the other doctor's poor bedside manner, although his hand jerks slightly where it's fisted around the fabric of Zoro's sleeve. "L-Law saved me when he said I was probably gonna die. Can-?"

"Possibly... if you make it worth my while."

"I-"

"How much?" Nami demands, her face white with fury as she surges forward to grab the opposing captain by his collar, enraged that he's smiling so casually while pinning a monetary value to their nakama's continued existence as well as that of the life he's carrying. "Whatever you want, we'll-!"

"Heh, you're pretty feisty, aren't you? Forget it, lady- let your captain handle this. He knows what I want from him."

"Luffy?" Nami frowns. "No, trust me, you want to deal with me. Luffy doesn't know how to read the account books, much less figure out how to get his hands on the kind of money that-"

"Who said I was interested in beli?" Law smirks, crossing his arms. "I'm after something else entirely."

He's completely unprepared for their reactions. The shocked navigator recoils, releasing him, and Sanji explodes, forcing himself between them and describing at length and in great detail the very painful and physically impossible acts that he intends to commit on the perverted bastard's person before he drops him overboard to watch him sink.

"Oi, Blondie, simmer down! What's your-?" The surgeon realizes abruptly that most of the crew - still reeling over what's been done to their swordsman and highly sensitive to anything that might be misconstrued as a double entendre involving any manner of coerced or non-consensual sex - has interpreted his statement in a way he never intended and makes frantic waving gestures with his hands. "Whoa, whoa, stop right there- that's not what I-!"

"Fucking heartless-!"

"Sanji!" The Straw Hat captain flings out an arm to haul the infuriated cook away and ignores the impassioned rant that's immediately re-focused on him. "It's okay, Sanji."

"How the hell can you say that when he wants to-"

"I know what Law's talking about, and it's not sex with me, although I'd agree to that too if it was the only way he'd promise to make sure Zoro and the baby would be okay." Luffy stares at the other captain with his jaw set in grim determination, utterly and unreservedly candid about his willingness to trade the use of his own body to ensure his family's safety. "I already said it once, but I'll say it again: I'm not backing down, no matter what happens- we'll beat Law's crew and Kid's and everybody else's to One Piece even if I gotta fight 'em all with a kid tucked under one arm, so Law better stop asking dumb questions and save my first mate and my son unless he wants me to kick his ass right now."

There's a surprised murmur from the rubber man's crew, but the swordsman - amused that it's taken Luffy this long to finally voice what everyone's already known for years - starts chuckling feebly.

_Typical stupid Sencho, waiting until NOW to say it- god, I love that idiot._

"Exactly what I wanted to hear." Law's mouth widens to a grin, and he nudges Chopper, who's occupied himself with meticulously readjusting the IV lines. "C'mon, Tanuki, let's get started. I got gloves on me, but we'll have to use whatever equipment you've got here, 'cause we're likely to kill him trying to move him to my ship."

The reindeer takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, advising himself to stay calm and remember what he's read. "R-Regional anesthesia? It might lower his blood pressure even more, but I have drugs to counteract that if it happens."

"Nah, I'd use a general- remember, we need to do this fast. It'll hit him quicker, plus it'll knock him out completely. The guy's got ridiculously thick abdominal muscles and unless you plan on operating with one of his fucking swords, it's gonna take a lot to get through 'em- I doubt he'd enjoy being awake for that. We'll just need to work really quickly once he's doped up enough to not feel anything, so the anesthetic doesn't-"

"No-" Zoro interrupts, and Chopper utters a squeal of alarm as the older pirate struggles to sit up, transforming to Heavy Point and carefully pinning him down.

"You need to hold still! The more you move, the faster and heavier you're going to bleed!"

"NO! Chopper, you told me you wouldn't use that shit 'cause it goes through the cord to the baby- forget about me, just get the kid out before he runs out of air."

"Nice sentiment, Roronoa-san," Law snorts. "-but you're probably gonna start thrashing all over the place the second I start cutting. I'd like to think I've got a steady hand, but it's not steady enough to keep me from making a major mess of your guts if you're trying to crawl under the bed."

_I mean, I know you're tough - you gotta be, considering the rumors I've heard - but you can't possibly be that-_

"Won't be a problem. Oi, Robin-" the swordsman fixes the historian with a steady gaze despite the pallor of his face. "-think you got a few limbs you can lend me?"

The older woman nods without hesitation, and Nami blanches. "You can't possibly mean to-"

"Marimo, you're insane-" Sanji insists, squeezing Zoro's foot to get his attention. "Just let them-"

"NO. Not if it's gonna hurt the baby. Luffy, don't let them knock me out with some weird shit that might hurt our kid!"

"Z-Zoro-"

"Make up your goddamn minds, people," Law sighs. "Roronoa might just go ahead and bleed to death while you're arguing, you know, and then it won't fucking matter."

"If you're sure, Kenshi-san..."

"Yeah, and he's right- you better hurry it up, 'cause I'm starting to have trouble seeing stuff." He's lost enough blood following intense battles to know that the darkness stealing into his peripheral vision is a serious warning sign, especially since he's not even up and moving around. _Shit, I know Luffy's right here- I can feel his hand on my arm, but I can barely-_

"Alright, if we're gonna do this, I need room to work, so I want everybody out except the tanuki and her." The Heart captain gestures to the historian. "Talk about a mind fuck- never thought I'd end up with Nico Robin as a surgical nurse."

He eyes the older woman speculatively._ Probably look damn fine in a uniform too..._

"Just tell me what you want me to do, Sen'i-sans."

"Here, put these on."

"I'm staying with Zoro." The Straw Hat captain insists. "I should be here!"

"And end up clobbering this guy while he's trying to help us? Forget it." He's having trouble focusing on the rubber man's face, but he doesn't need to fight back the tunnel vision to know the agonized expression his lover's wearing. While he knows Luffy would never deliberately interfere during one of his swordfights - he shrugs away the nagging reminder that this may never be an issue again, considering his maimed hand and Wado's shattered blade and depending on the outcome of the surgery - he doesn't trust his captain to just stand by and watch idly while one of their crewmates holds him down so someone else can cut him open. "Just go outside and, I don't know- play tag with Usopp or something while you wait."

"Jeez, Marimo! What the hell's wrong with-!"

"-staying with Zoro!"

"Franky, get him out of here! He doesn't need to see this."

"Why do I always end up being the bad guy?" The cyborg asks unhappily, watching Luffy tense and tighten his hold on Zoro's sleeve.

"'Cause you're the only one tough enough to hang onto him without getting hurt," the swordsman explains, sounding exhausted and equally disquieted as he tries unsuccessfully to pry his captain's fingers loose; he doesn't have enough strength or leverage to break the younger pirate's iron grip with only three digits. "Dartboard brow's fucked up enough already, and Robin's gonna have her hands full. Get Luffy out of here, and keep him out. Sit on him if that's what you gotta do."

"NO- Zoro, don't make me g- NO! ZOR-ZORO!"

Ignoring the drama playing out beside him as Straw Hat begs and threatens and eventually resorts to trying to order his nakama to let him stay, all to no avail because Roronoa's actually threatening to get up and throw the rubber man out himself if the cyborg won't do it, Law shoves a tray of medical instruments at Robin. "Here, hold this until I need you to- oh, huh, that is a handy ability you got there. Ever thought about finding another-?"

"No, thank you. While I appreciate the offer, I'm quite happy with this crew," she tells him over the ruckus of Luffy bawling Zoro's name and overturning both sofas and the coffee table in his efforts to prevent himself from being removed from the bedside.

"Hmm, that's a shame. Oh well, I figured it was worth a try. Okay, Nico-san, since you seem to have plenty of free hands, please restrain his arms and legs, and I need more hands here and here and- yes, you've got it. Good, now- OI! Get Mugiwara outta here before he knocks over the fucking IV pole! THANK YOU. Oh, and anybody got a- you, Blondie, we're gonna need to borrow that."

"S-Sure, just gimmie a second." Sanji joins them at the bedside, shaking hands undoing his buckle, while the other Straw Hats grudgingly follow Franky and their shouting, struggling captain outside.

Zoro flinches at the sound of wood cracking and a startled exclamation from the shipwright, because Luffy's just ripped away part of the railing from the deck over the women's quarters, trying to slingshot himself back inside despite the cyborg's firm grip around his waist. "Oi, cook- tell that idiot I love him, alright?"

Sanji's mouth twists, his jaw trembling slightly as he yanks his belt free of its loops and leans forward to cram the leather between the swordsman's teeth, drawing a grunt of protest. "Fuck you, Marimo. Tell him yourself when you dump that squalling shitty brat of yours in his arms."

"Hmm, interesting friends you've got," Law muses, glancing up briefly from where he's mopping Zoro's exposed skin with antibacterial solution to watch the stiff-backed blond stalk from the room, barely restraining himself from slamming the door behind him. "You get along that well with your enemies, Roronoa?"

_Very funny, considering I killed the last-_

"FUCK!" He arches - or tries to - against the hands holding him down as the surgeon makes a lightning fast incision across his lower abdomen, laying open epidermis and subcutaneous fat to expose the muscle beneath.

"Towel- thanks, tanuki. Okay, that was the easy part; it's gonna get a bit more interesting from here, but I'll try to make this as quick as I-"

"Shut up and get on with it," Zoro growls clearly around the belt in his mouth, and even though his voice is hoarse with pain and his face slick and shiny with sweat, he's glowering fiercely enough to make Law raise an eyebrow.

"You really are a bad-ass motherfucker, aren't you?" The surgeon grins, giving his scalpel a brief twirl. "Okay, man, hang on, 'cause this is gonna hurt."

_Just relax- you can do this. It's not so bad; it's kinda like when Mihawk-_ His determination to mentally overcome the discomfort derails the moment Robin's gloved fingers start pulling, producing a gap wide enough for Law's blade to start slicing through the thicker layer of his abdominal muscle, because this is nothing like the master swordsman's weapon cutting across his torso or any of the other severe injuries he's ever sustained.

This is fucking AGONY, possibly on par with Kuma, and it's a good thing the historian's restraining him tightly with a multitude of extra limbs because Law was right- his body's stubbornly ignoring his brain's demands for it to hold still, his entire frame twitching and shuddering under her grasping hands in a desperate attempt to escape the scalpel's razor-sharp edge. His teeth meet with a sharp click through the leather clenched between them, and he barely has time to realize that he's going to owe the damn ero-cook a new belt before the pain drives all further thought from his mind.

xxx

Luffy goes wild at the sound of his swordsman's ragged screams, scratching and biting and cursing at the cyborg restraining him, until Franky pins the hysterical younger pirate face-down in the grass, bellowing for someone to help him as he uses his free arm to defend his eyes and face from the onslaught.

In the end, it takes Usopp, Sanji and Brook together to aid the shipwright in securing the captain's flailing limbs, until he goes completely boneless and quivering under their combined weight when his lover's voice abruptly falls silent.

Nami, silently and immensely relieved but also earnestly frightened that Zoro's no longer making such horrible noises, pries the equally stunned and appalled men off the rubber man, and he immediately latches onto the navigator, wrapping both arms tightly around her waist and crushing his face between her breasts. It startles her, but Luffy's trembling and clutching at her so violently that she doesn't try to push him away.

"Must've passed out," Sanji mutters, pacing back and forth across the lawn deck and scattering toothpicks into the grass when he tries to fish one from his shirt pocket. "That's one of my favorite belts- if Marimo chewed it in half, I swear I'll- I'll-"

He drops down beside Nami, easing a trembling arm around her and their wide-eyed captain, and Usopp takes the navigator's other side while Franky and Brook hover nearby, exchanging several worried glances before they finally join their nakama.

They're still sitting there in silence, watching the clouds roll past overhead without actually seeing them and unsure whether hours have passed or merely minutes, when Chopper bursts from the women's quarters, crying so hard that he can't see where he's going and loses his footing entirely. He doesn't try to get up when his rough tumble to the bottom of the steps ends, just crawls on all fours until he's close enough to throw himself into Luffy's lap, shoving his tear-dampened snout against the scar-roughened skin of his nakama's chest.

"I'm s-s-sorry- we did everything we c-could, b-b-but- I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY, LUFFY, I'M S-S-SORRY!"

xxx

When Law finally emerges with the swordsman's blood drying on his tattooed arms and in his fingernail beds despite the gloves he's stripping free - the damn stuff always seems to get everywhere no matter how neatly he works - he finds the Straw Hat captain huddled on the top step of the stairs with his face buried in his arms, surrounded by the rest of his pale and badly shaken crew, and he knows the reindeer's already delivered the news.

Luffy's head snaps up at the sound of the door opening, and although his vision's half obscured by tears, he swallows loudly at the sight of the gore-splattered Jolly Roger symbol on his fellow captain's shirt, which looks as though it's grinning maliciously at his misfortune.

The rubber man takes a deep wavering breath. "Where's-"

His eyes widen as Robin emerges from the doorway behind the Heart pirate, her normally stoic features distorted by sorrow, and he instinctively reaches out for what she's cradling carefully in both arms, a hiccupping whimper escaping the tightness of his throat.

Nami, covering her mouth and nose with the trembling fingers of both hands, stumbles as she backs away to give them room, and only Sanji's hand on her elbow prevents her from tumbling to the deck.

Robin's voice is low and husky. "Sencho- Luffy, I'm so-"

"I want my- L-Let me hold my-" He can't finish, because the historian's already gently transferring her charge into his trembling hands, and even though he's terrified that he's going to drop the baby, he can't seem to stop shaking, his heart hammering wildly in his chest as he gets his first glimpse of the child his swordsman's suffered through hell to protect.

_Son, this is my SON... oh my god, Zoro- Zoro, look what we-!_

The others watch, barely breathing, as Luffy stares down into the blanket he's clutching and then quickly looks up, lips trembling as he struggles to smile for his nakama as though there's not an icy hand clenched about his rapidly pounding heart and squeezing mercilessly tighter with each passing moment.

"Black," he tells them, sounding somewhat puzzled despite the congestion in his voice. "H-He's already got hair and a lot of it and it's black like mine, not- not green like-"

Nami chokes back a low cry, turning to bury her tear-streaked face against Sanji's lapels as their captain pushes the blanket's folds further apart to count tiny fingers and toes, murmuring softly to the newborn in his arms despite the broken sobs that punctuate his speech.

The cook lays a hand on the navigator's back, and he doesn't protest when Usopp joins her, snuffling loudly, because the three of them have been with Luffy and Zoro since East Blue. He's sure their newer crewmembers, discovered in the Grand Line, feel just as devastated- but he, Nami and the sniper have been there since the beginning and witnessed the first hesitant and fumbling overtures between their captain and the swordsman, watched infatuation develop into a stronger bond, so this- this-

The expression on Luffy's face causes a stabbing pain inside Sanji's chest that's got nothing to do with his mending ribs, and he's too numb to care about the tears and snot that his nakama are leaking all over his jacket. Marimo always teased him about this suit, anyway, told him wearing orange pinstripes made him look like a goddamn pumpkin...

He listens to the faint, stifled noises of everyone crying around him, and he wants to go over and wrap his arms around the captain and tell him everything will be okay, but he's afraid to interrupt such a private moment, and it's quite clear that it's all gone horribly wrong and things may not be okay ever again.

Apparently the others are fighting the same internal battle, because no one moves, and in the end, it's the man who doesn't belong here, because he's not part of their crew and doesn't share their grief, that finally breaks the silence.

Luffy flinches, reluctantly tearing his gaze away from the baby, when Law's hand claps down on his shoulder.

"Cheer up, Mugiwara-san. I know it's shitty consolation, but you could've lost 'em both," the Heart pirate states in his usual blunt manner, and the look of pure anguished loathing that the younger pirate flashes in his direction makes the Surgeon of Death take a hasty step backwards.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's note: I make no apologies for the direction this fic's taken or the characters' intense reactions to a difficult situation - grief tends to make the best of us irrational and unpredictable - as I've had this sucker flagged as a darkfic from the beginning. And for anyone who's curious, YES, this has been the plan since the beginning and this ending was being drafted even as you read about the crew bantering happily about their crazy pregnancy theories and adjusting to life with an expecting swordsman. So yeah, I'm probably a dick and totally worthy of your hatred. XD

We've entered the final stretch; only three more chapters and the epilogue to go, following this chapter. For those of you brandishing the flaming torches and pitchforks, please don't lynch me until you read the alternate ending that will be available following the conclusion of the original version. The second one's quite different and will hopefully make what you're currently reading a bit more tolerable for those of you who like some comfort with your hurt. I'll give you a hint: it was possibly the strangest thing I've ever written, but damn if it didn't make my beta smile when he read it.

xxx

_Nngh~ ...wh-what the hell hit me... and where am I? The Shichibukai- is he gone?_

Waking disoriented and weak, barely able to open his eyelids much less lift his head from the pillow, reminds Zoro so strongly of that first awful afternoon following his confrontation with Bartholomew Kuma that for a few minutes the swordsman's actually convinced it's more than two years earlier and they're still docked at Thriller Bark following the last event that left him half-dead and drenched in his own blood.

There's no pain, just a foggy haze enveloping his brain that makes it incredibly hard to think. Chopper will later quietly explain that Law insisted on pumping him full of an obscene amount of extremely heavy-duty analgesics- which is probably good, because he can't seem to stop shivering violently enough to make his teeth chatter, and for a while his entire awareness narrows down to the frigid cold floating somewhere between his chin and his toes.

When the drugs eventually recede enough for reality to start filtering in, he becomes aware that he's lying on Nami's bed in the women's quarters, with Luffy curled at his side and clinging tightly to his left arm, and it's not just his captain keeping him company. The entire crew is packed into the small room, all of them dozing fitfully where they're crowded into the matching sofas or sprawled on the floor.

His vision's slightly blurry, so he reaches up to swipe awkwardly at his face and hesitates, blinking dumbly at the appendage hovering above the plastic mask strapped over his mouth and nose, because he's startled and a bit confused to see that his right hand only has three fingers.

_What-? When the hell did I-?_

He stares at his maimed hand, trying to make sense of it. The stumps look freshly and cleanly sliced beneath the cauterized tissue; somebody's cut off two of his goddamn fingers and part of a third. Not the Shichibukai then- he doesn't recall Kuma carrying or needing edged weapons, and this definitely looks like it was done by a sword- no, not a sword. A knife. An extremely sharp one and-

The ensuing flood of memories leaves his mind reeling:

_... he's surrounded by cold, stone walls and his hands are cuffed behind his back and a taunting feminine voice is telling him to choose. Choose between the fingers required for holding the swords that will allow him to honor the vow he made to both Kuina and, just as importantly, the man who will one day be the Pirate King... and the baby he's become fiercely determined to protect even at the cost of his own dignity. Choose between the dream he's pursued for years... and his new-found desire for something that he never knew he wanted so badly until he realized he might lose it._

_The woman toys with him, smiling maliciously as she tells him to take his time, but it's not a difficult decision and he's positively incensed by her suggestion that he might think a few bits of flesh and bone could be worth more than the innocent life inside him; he barely restrains himself from spitting in her face when he snarls at her to take his fingers before he tries to strangle her, never mind that he's chained at the wrists and his forearms have long since gone numb against his spine._

_Since his arrival, his world's narrowed down to one ultimate objective: doing whatever's necessary to redirect the Chief Guard's attention away from his swelling abdomen and his captain's unborn child until Luffy and the crew find their way back to his side and get him- get them- the hell out of here. At least the bitch is currently more interested in inflicting pain than pleasure. He can deal with pain; it's when she aims for the opposite end of the spectrum that he's driven half out of his mind with revulsion and self-loathing at his own body's betrayal._

_Pain is tolerable. Pain keeps him sane. And while he's not particularly eager for her to take a knife to him, better his fingers than his belly._

_Besides, keeping them won't do him much good at obtaining the status of Greatest Swordsman now anyway, considering it's rather difficult to call himself a swordsman, much less one striving for grandeur, when he's not only lost his weapons but damaged two of them nearly beyond recognition..._

His heart skips a beat, stuttering inside his chest, when he remembers that Kuina's katana- Kuina's katana, which he's carried at his side for what seems like an eternity, is-

_... he's deflecting the massive flaming fist aimed at his midsection when Wado quivers and snaps under the heat and pressure, blade shattering into glittering shards and melting hilt searing his palm, and it's all happening too quickly for him to mourn the Meito's staggering, unexpected loss because the shitty cook's SHOVING him backwards and screaming at him to run even as he takes the decelerated blow full in the torso, and the swordsman lunges forward with a roar of outrage at the sound of his nakama's ribs snapping, intending to stab the sneering Marine with Wado's jagged remains._

_The pirate's anger and dismay is so great that for one brief moment Asura's extra arms shimmer into existence for the second time in mere minutes, two of them wielding identical copies of his broken katana and striking vehemently enough that he actually scores a hit on Akainu's shoulder, slicing through the fringe of the Admiral's epaulette and cutting deeply enough to draw a thin spray of blood, before the manifestation fades out again._

_His futile attempt at defiance ends abruptly when another uniformed man, another Admiral for god sakes - Zoro recognizes the smug bastard who nearly killed him at Sabaody - appears seemingly out of nowhere to launch an additional attack, foot sailing towards his head, and he raises Shuusui to block, but his timing's horribly off, and he watches in disbelief as his newest sword strains and BENDS under the impact, and the blow still catches him in the temple forcefully enough to send him sprawling, weapons flying from his grasp as he throws out both arms to avoid falling directly on his stomach._

_He's lying on his side, stretching for Kitetsu and clawing clumps of sod from the lawn deck in his desperation to reach the cursed sword where it's laying just out of reach, hilt partly obscured by the brim of his captain's hat, when Kizaru's second, slightly more restrained kick slams into his skull and that coronet of yellow straw with its wide red band is the last thing he sees before everything goes dark..._

He rolls his head weakly to the left, studying the younger man nestled against him, and his chest tightens at the recollection of another far more pleasant but equally intense memory.

_..."-really like that, b-but is Zoro sure?" His lover asks softly, resting his chin on the swordsman's bare collarbone and regarding him with shy excitement, and the older pirate feels such a strong sense of rightness that he can't speak but merely nods, and then Luffy is laughing brightly despite the tears suddenly brimming in his eyes and throwing both arms around his neck and covering his face with kisses. "Okay, and if it's a girl, we'll name it after Zoro's friend, right?"_

But it's not a girl, it's a boy- Chopper said so, and they're not docked outside Thriller Bark, they're in the New World, or at least they were until the goddamn Admirals came and carted his ass off to Impel Down and to isolation from everyone important to him and to the bitch's repeated threats to disembowel him and cut his son to pieces under his dying gaze if he didn't let her-

_S-She's dead- she's dead because I killed her, and Luffy- Luffy brought me- he brought us- back to the ship. Me and-_

His retrospection's come full-circle, filling in the gaps, and he suddenly finds himself unable to breathe despite the air being forced into his lungs by the oxygen tank parked by the bedside.

_The baby- they said there was something wrong with the-!_

He pushes his injured hand back under the covers, patting frantically at himself and suffering momentary confusion because his belly still feels considerably swollen even though he's now awake enough to recognize that there's no perceptible movement within, and then his remaining fingertips brush the rough line of neat stitches spanning his lower abdomen just above his groin. He traces them gingerly, trying to comprehend why he feels so uneasy, because the procedure must have been successful since he's still alive- and then his ears register something that sends tendrils of fear coiling through his building anxiety.

Quiet. It's too quiet in here. It's not completely silent; he picks up the air hissing past his nose and mouth, the soft breathing of his sleeping crewmates and Usopp's faint mumbling as the sniper rolls over and hugs Chopper tighter against him where they're both curled on the carpet... but there's no fussing or crying or any of the other sounds the older pirate associates with newborn infants.

_Why don't I hear-?_

"You're awake."

Zoro jumps, a muffled grunt escaping him as the sudden movement produces a strangely painless but nauseating tugging sensation on the sutured flesh under his hand. His eye widens slightly at the sight of the man sitting beside him, and he paws clumsily at the mask on his face, dislodging it. "Ungh- wh-where's-"

"No, don't try to talk, and don't you dare try to get up either. Your tanuki warned me you don't follow doctors' orders very well." Slouching in the chair by the bedside, Law's watching him with tired, bloodshot eyes, mouth set in a grim line that adds to the panic clanging dissonantly in the swordsman's head. "My crew's watching your ship, so just go back to sleep. You need to rest, Roronoa-san- you nearly died."

"Wh-Where's my- I want my-" He's unaware that he's weakly repeating the same thing that Luffy demanded several hours earlier, his voice sounding raspy and strained, and the Heart pirate winces despite himself, his gaze sliding away.

"Not just now, okay? You'll see him soon enough. I'm sorry, man, I really am- but there were some complications, and-"

Zoro opens his mouth to explain that he doesn't want or need to hear about complications - Chopper's already warned them about the possible birth defects associated with abdominal pregnancies, and if the kid's got issues or needs to wear leg braces or any of the other stuff he remembers being told, dealing with that will be rough but they'll find a way because they always do, they always prevail no matter what the odds even if they're left bleeding and battered in the process - but Law's shaking his head.

"You were starting to bleed internally from placental abruption even before Mugiwara rescued you; I found old, partially-clotted fluid that must've been pooling between the placenta and your intestine. If somebody had been able to perform the laparotomy immediately, right after the initial separation first occurred, there would've been a better chance, but the umbilical cord was barely providing adequate support even before you realized there was a problem. By the time we actually delivered the baby, you'd already lost a lot of blood... far more than I suspected during my initial diagnosis."

"..." He stares at the doctor, unconsciously kneading his fingers against his stomach as comprehension of what he's being told spikes through the numbness pervading his mind. "No, NO. Stop fucking around with me! I heard Chopper; he said he had plenty of-!"

"We tried, Roronoa. Your doctor insisted on it- wouldn't listen when I told him it was already too late and threatened to kick my ass if I didn't help him after Nico-san helped me finish sewing you back up. Even under normal conditions, transfusion's often more difficult with a neonate than an adult, and we did everything we could, but- between the blood loss and prolonged oxygen deprivation... it just wasn't enough. I'm sorry."

The swordsman lets his head drop back against the pillow, staring blankly at the ceiling and taking deep shuddering breaths that don't help alleviate the dark flowers blooming in his vision. Law's still talking, but the other man's voice is fading to a low unintelligible hum, explanations and excuses blurred by the guilt sweeping through Zoro as he struggles to process the unwelcome news that's sent his heart plummeting into the acid-churning pit of his stomach.

_You thought everything came loose when you were trying to keep Luffy from getting himself killed, but if the baby was already in trouble before then... Asura- oh god, it happened when you summoned Asura... you knew it was probably dangerous, but all you could think about was getting away from-_

"Oi, Roronoa! If you don't stop hyperventilating, you're going to pass out! Shit, where'd I put-" The Heart pirate fumbles for the stethoscope that's somehow become entangled in the cords of his hoodie, but Zoro ignores him, mentally beseeching someone - anyone - to tell him he's mistaken or even that he's really still imprisoned in Impel Down, just blindly groping his way through some unpleasant dream because he's unknowingly dozed off while he waits for his nakama to liberate him and his son.

_I-I'll take it back. Please, let me take it back! She can do whatever she wants to me, even the thing with the trident again, if you'll just- I'll scream this time, I'll even beg, you can have the rest of my fingers if you want, just please- please-!_

If he's sincerely expecting divine intervention, it doesn't come, but there's a low whimper and faint rustling as Luffy stirs beside him, grip tightening on his left hand where their fingers lay laced together, and it's a relief when the older pirate's irreversible slide back into unconsciousness accelerates, because he doesn't want to face his waking captain. _My fault, Luffy, I'm sorry, it's my fault- my fault. My fault!_

He's blacking out, but his last disconnected thoughts send a surge of painful clarity through the grogginess overshadowing his mind. He's failed them both - failed the ones he loves most - because he still wasn't strong enough, at least not when it mattered, and he bitterly accepts this as proof of what he's stated persistently for most of his life. There is no Kami capable of receiving or answering Roronoa Zoro's prayers; there's no such thing and never has been and the empty ache in his chest reinforces what he learned years ago when Kuina died: that all the bullshit about a loving God and sparrows falling and the sanctified protection of innocence is just that- complete and utter bullshit.

But if he's wrong - if there really is some supreme, absolute being out there somewhere, observing impassively as children die - then he's one fucking cruel bastard.

xxx

"What a goddamn mess," Sanji mutters to Usopp and Franky as they stand on the upper deck outside the dining hall, watching Luffy on the lawn deck below, where their nakama's squatting with his head down and his arms wrapped around both knees, his ongoing internal struggle visible in the trembling of his shoulders and the occasional hitching sob that seizes his entire frame.

Nami and Chopper, shaking and teary-eyed, fled to the observation room nearly forty-five minutes earlier when the pale-faced captain emerged from the infirmary with a bundle cradled carefully in his arms, but Robin and Brook held their ground, and they're still visible at the other end of the ship, standing near the helm and watching in silence.

"Yeah, talk about dealing with some weighty shit," Law sighs, hefting his nodachi a bit higher on his shoulder. He nods his chin towards the stitched sailcloth shroud resting on the ground beside the grieving younger pirate. "Ah, speaking of weight... I sure hope he added enough to keep the body down when-"

"Shut the fuck up right now," the cook snarls, his face contorting with hostility as he seizes the Heart captain by the collar. "If Luffy hears you-"

"Cool it, Blondie. I just don't wanna see Mugiwara, or any of you guys- especially him-" He indicates the cyborg blubbering noisily beside him. "-totally lose it if the damn thing bobs back up after he puts it overboard."

Sanji clenches his teeth, reminding himself that the man saved Marimo's life. There's also an entire submarine's worth of potential enemies to deal with if he attacks the Heart captain, although he doesn't care very much about that part right now. He wants to drive his fist through the nonchalant expression on the other man's face, but he settles for shoving Law away hard enough to make him stumble. "I don't like you. You're a prick, and you don't belong on our ship, so just keep your shitty comments to yourself."

"Look, I'm not trying to piss anybody off- I'm just telling it like I see it."

"Yeah, but that doesn't make you sound like any less of an asshole, Sideburns. I think you oughta follow Eyebrow-bro's advice and just shut the hell up before we drop YOU overboard and see how fast YOU sink."

The doctor glances around to find Franky, angrily swiping tears from his face, also eyeing him with hostility. "Fine. Jeez, touchy bunch, aren't you?"

"No, just human," the shipwright snaps, yanking off his sunglasses to glower down at Law with red-rimmed eyes. "Maybe you could learn something from-"

He breaks off, his attention distracted by movement on the deck below, and pauses berating their visitor as Luffy picks up the forlorn bundle beside him, stares at it, changes his mind and sets it back down, then immediately snatches it back up and hugs the sailcloth tightly against his chest, burying his face against the rough material.

"Shit." Franky shoves his glasses back onto his face, his jaw quivering. "I'm sorry- I can't stand watching this anymore."

The cyborg pushes away from the railing, none too subtly jostling the Heart pirate out of his way, and disappears into the dining hall, slamming the door shut behind him.

The others remain at their posts, and when Sanji glances towards their other nakama at the bow, instinctively seeking Robin first, he sees that the historian's holding her arms crossed over her chest, fingers grasping her elbows and shoulders slightly hunched, as though she's extremely uncomfortable with the scene playing out below, although she refuses to look away.

"C-Can't this just wait?" Usopp asks, turning pleading eyes towards the cook. "Luffy's- well- I mean, just look at him! And even though Law says he's gonna be okay, Zoro still hasn't woken up again yet... what if he doesn't want it done this way? What if he wants a gra- a grave to visit? Why can't we just wait 'til we get to Water Seven?"

Sanji winces, because sometimes he forgets that - despite his enthusiasm for the sea - the sniper's spent most of his life on land and isn't accustomed to the necessity for certain nautical practices. To be honest, he's not entirely sure the sniper's wrong about what Zoro might want; while he's never personally talked to either of them about his childhood friend, the girl who once owned Wado, they've heard enough snippets from Luffy to know about the swordsman's customary stops at her tomb before he left his village in search of Mihawk.

But the truth of the matter remains that they're still some distance from land, and there are certain... difficulties... associated with transporting human remains at sea, and while he hasn't spoken a word to the crew about it, the captain himself must recognize what needs to be done, if his heart-wrenching behavior on the lawn below is any indication. "Usopp, I get what you're saying, but-"

"Look, Long-nose; you're looking at another day or two of traveling through this summer current, and that's if you guys leave this afternoon and don't run into any more trouble. At these temperatures, a body's not going to keep without some type of refrigeration. So if you really wanna go down there and explain to your captain why he's gotta put his kid in the goddamn freezer, then be my guest, but that's a bit harsh even for me," Law states bluntly, and Usopp flinches as though he's been struck and turns immediately towards Sanji as though expecting a rebuttal.

The cook won't meet his eyes. "Sorry, Usopp, I hate to say it, but he's right."

"This isn't fair, none of it," the sniper protests. "Why does stuff like this-"

"Son of a bitch," Law hisses suddenly, shrugging his nodachi from his shoulder so he can rest it against the wall by the dining hall door and sprinting for the stairs, and the two Straw Hat pirates start to raise their voices in protest, until they see where he's headed.

"What the hell-? I thought you said he was unconscious!" Sanji demands, grabbing Usopp by an overall strap and dragging the sniper with him as he hurries after the Heart captain.

"He was, I swear!"

"RORONOA, GET YOUR ASS BACK IN BED!" The doctor bellows, waving frantically for Robin and Brook to cut the swordsman off before he reaches the top of the stairs. "OI, NICO-SAN, BONES! Get down there and get that dumb shit back where he belongs before he falls on his face!"

_How the fuck did he get past Bepo?_

His patient's also somehow managed to free himself from the IV lines and shoddily wrap himself in one of the bed sheets, and although he's grimacing horribly at the pain of moving upright, one clenched fist pressed tightly against his lower abdomen, he's still groping determinedly for the staircase railing with his free hand.

"Oi, Zoro, don't-! Nngh, damn it!" Cursing at the sudden twinge from his still-mending ribs, stressed by his hasty pursuit of the surgeon now hurrying across the lawn deck, Sanji shoves the sniper ahead of him. "Usopp, don't let him fall!"

Taken aback by Zoro's sudden appearance, Robin hesitates a moment too long before she raises her arms in response to Brook's urging that she's better suited to stopping their nakama without further injuring him, and her slow response costs her the chance to safely secure him, because he's already made it down the first few steps, wobbling dangerously.

If she makes a grab for him now, he'll probably fall; she can see the strain of remaining upright and mobile emblazoned on his face. Abandoning the attempt to catch him with Hana Hana no Mi, she hurries down the ladder to join him on the stairs, reaching his side and ducking under his arm to support him as Usopp waits anxiously on the steps below until they draw close enough for him to seize the swordsman's other arm and squeeze in next to him.

Sanji, massaging his ribcage, feels a rush of relief when the trio manages to descend to the lawn deck without incident. "Marimo! What the hell were you thinking, trying to-?"

But Zoro's ignoring them, eye fixed resolutely on a point past the cook's accusing but concerned face, and Robin and Usopp fall away when he shrugs them off, unsure how to restrain him without hurting him and reluctantly obeying Law's gesture for them to stand their ground and not interfere.

"If he's that determined, let him go."

Luffy, who's risen to his feet and backed away from the commotion with both arms clutching protectively at his wrapped bundle, stares up at the approaching swordsman with wide, sorrowful eyes. "Z-Zoro-?"

The older pirate ignores his captain's apprehension, gaze locked on the sailcloth wrapping, and when he reaches out to touch the coarse fabric with a shaking hand, fingers twitching when they make contact and then tentatively tracing the shape beneath the makeshift winding sheet, the younger man stifles a sharp noise of agitation and tightens his grasp warily.

"Oi, Mugiwara, don't move; stay put and let him-" Law warns, but it's too late, the rubber man's already taken one faltering step backwards, and Zoro's teeth are bared in a silent snarl when he wrenches the bundle concealing their son's body from the Straw Hat captain's grasp, turning his back to avoid the hands desperately trying to snatch it back.

"Shit," the surgeon mutters, rubbing wearily at his face.

The sound of ripping seams and Luffy's anguished cry sends Usopp fleeing across the dead grass into the men's quarters, while Robin calmly turns and walks away until she finds herself standing with both hands braced against the fire-scorched trunk of the tree by the aquarium bar wall, vision obscured by tears as she stares down at the remains of the rope swing under her feet.

Overhead, Brook moves towards the bow, finding himself bereft of words. The musician's played and sung numerous old laments and dirges, even composed a few new ones himself during his years drifting alone in the Florian Triangle, but he's seldom done so since joining the Straw Hats, because those songs were never meant for this vessel- not for the Sunny, with all its rooms echoing joyous laughter and friendly banter, or its enthusiastic and determined crew.

Now, though, both ship and crewmates have been transformed into something he doesn't recognize, he thinks morosely as he surveys the horizon and struggles to tune out the sad spectacle below, and there's no language capable of truly describing the full extent of this tragedy.

Unaware of the dry lawn crackling under his bare toes or the sudden gust of wind that whips the edge of the sheet wrapped carelessly about him against his cheek, Zoro's equally oblivious to his lover's pleas and frantic tugging at his arm as he stares down at the pitiful form laying exposed in his hands, which are no longer trembling but frozen stiff as stone.

His eye captures minute details, ignoring the fact that Luffy's entreaties have given way to broken sobbing and absentmindedly shifting the bundle to one arm and shoving the captain away when he's punched halfheartedly in the shoulder.

_Eight months- eight months I carried you, and I felt so goddamn huge near the end, so how can you be so- so small? How could my back hurt so much when you barely weigh anything at all?_

The younger pirate makes a noise like a wounded animal and hits him again, harder, and he strikes back without thinking, nearly knocking the rubber man off his feet.

_And Chopper was WRONG. You're perfect- you've got the tiniest fingers I've ever seen in my life, but they're perfect, just like the rest of you. There's nothing wrong with you, except the fact that you're-_

His mind skips away from the finality of the next word, grasps for something less offensive and less likely to send his sanity screaming into a downward spiral.

_Black hair, huh? You might've looked a lot like your namesake when you got older, just without the freckles... you definitely would have favored Sencho over me. I-I'll have to tell the shi- the shitty eyebrow cook that he was- he was-_

A sudden urge seizes him, and he bites his tongue hard enough to draw blood, knowing that if the bubble of hysterical laughter rising in his throat escapes his lips, he won't be able to stop.

_After everything- after everything I did to protect you- after the horrible shit I let that bitch do to me to keep you safe... it was all for nothing because, in the end, I killed you myself and-_

Luffy's back, pummeling his arm and yanking at it, and the swordsman clasps the torn sailcloth tightly to his chest, grabbing the captain by the wrist and hauling him onto the tips of his toes. They glower wordlessly at one another, jaws clenched and faces dark with resentment, each too caught up in his own personal despair to recognize that they're on the verge of brawling when they should be comforting each other.

Sanji grabs the Heart pirate standing beside him by the collar once more and shakes him, angry but imploring. "DO SOMETHING- make them stop before they end up in a fucking fist fight!"

Law stares at him silently, serenely, and the cook releases him with a growl. He knows he should follow his own advice and break the two men apart before they're reduced to petty squabbling over their dead child, but he's afraid- afraid that he'll make things worse, that he'll unintentionally hurt Marimo or - even worse - accidentally make him drop the bundle he's clutching so obstinately, so the blond stays where he's standing next to Bepo, who's joined them at the foot of the stairs, rubbing ruefully at his bruised skull and apologizing to his own captain for being caught off-guard.

It only takes a moment for things to go from bad to worse, when the Straw Hat captain - struggling recklessly to free himself and reclaim the baby's body - catches Zoro in the side with one violently flailing foot, and the older pirate immediately releases him, hunching over slightly as a thin red line seeps through the sheet stretched across his sutured abdomen.

He doesn't - _thank god for small favors_, Sanji breathes - drop the sailcloth, although his hold loosens considerably, enabling Law to step forward, deftly pluck the wrapping from his grasp and shove it unceremoniously into Luffy's arms. "Get the hell out of here and take that with you!"

"But- I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" Luffy wails, all animosity gone in an instant at the sight of his swordsman's blood. "ZORO, I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO-!"

"I told you, get the fuck out of here and go do what you need to do!" The Heart pirate shouts at him, grunting as Zoro utters a strangled howl of distress and plows into his back, straining to reach past him towards the rubber man, who's slowly backing away, too shaken to heed the other captain's instructions.

"MUGIWARA-!"

"Come with me, Sencho." Robin calls, extending a hand towards the younger pirate. "Chopper's on his way. Let him and Trafalgar-san take care of Zoro."

Luffy glances helplessly between her and his lover, hesitating, until the historian closes the distance between them to wrap an arm around his shoulders, turning him gently in the direction of the hatch to the soldier's dock.

The sound that erupts from Zoro's throat when he sees where they're going makes everyone on deck, even Law, cringe, and in the observation room, Nami - left alone when the Straw Hat's doctor rushed from the room following Robin's urgent request for him to report to the lawn deck - slumps onto her elbows against her blackened survey desk and covers both ears with her hands, because the swordsman's voice holds the same inconsolable suffering that she heard in their captain's months ago, while he was crouched on that dock and clutching Wado's broken hilt, unsure if his swordsman and their baby were still among the living.

Robin, who also recognizes it, closes her eyes briefly to compose herself and tightens her hold on Luffy when he struggles to escape her guiding arm, obviously intending to return to the older pirate's side. "Come on, Luffy. He'll be alright. Let me help you."

"Robin-" The captain's voice breaks; even though he can't see what's happening behind them, he can hear Zoro's incomprehensible cries of protest and Law's sharp scolding - the surgeon sounds kind of like Nami, he thinks disconnectedly and is horrified when the comparison almost makes him laugh out loud - punctuated by muffled grunts and curses as he endeavors to hold the swordsman back long enough for them to close the hatch behind them. "Robin, I don't know if I can-"

"It's a hard thing to be faced with-" the historian tells him softly, lending extra arms so he isn't forced to relinquish his grasp on the bundle in his arms. "-and I can't pretend to imagine how it feels, but I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

xxx

If Law's hoping that getting the greatest source of Zoro's irrationality out of sight will calm him down, he's sadly mistaken. When Chopper arrives, bounding down the steps leading from the stern to the lawn deck and panting rapidly from racing to retrieve his bag from the infirmary, the swordsman's still violently resisting the Heart captain's attempts to subdue him or at least convince him to sit down.

Sanji looks on, stunned and speechless, at a scene reminiscent of earlier - when he and the other Straw Hats tackled their captain to the ground - as the exasperated Heart pirate eventually steps back and orders his own crew to bring his uncooperative patient down.

Anyone else would take one look at the surgeon's men and think twice about resisting, but the Pirate Hunter's never been easily intimidated and right now he's at least half-mad with grief as well, so it still takes Bepo and the others several minutes to wrestle him to the ground long enough for Chopper to jab him with the sedative-loaded hypodermic the doctor's been hiding behind his back. Zoro shoots his nakama a betrayed glare before he finally collapses under the Heart pirates piled on his back. They cautiously climb to their feet when they're sure he's unconscious, and the reindeer's face is wet with tears and scrunched in misery as he takes Heavy Point to lift the limp, bleeding swordsman in his arms.

Law, grumbling angrily at himself for somehow underestimating the injured man's resilience despite his colleague's warning and his own observations, orders his men back to their own ship before following Chopper up the stairs and back into the women's quarters, leaving Sanji alone on the lawn deck.

The cook collapses onto the lowest step, staring glumly at the fat crimson droplets of the swordsman's blood glistening on the Adam wood beside him, and he's still sitting there with his head in his hands when Luffy returns from below-decks, alone, empty-handed and very quiet.

The captain trudges past him without a word, and Sanji considers reaching out to grab the rubber man's arm, but he feels as though he's wading aimlessly in chest-deep water, and by the time he raises a hand, Luffy's already halfway up the staircase and out of reach, and the blond doesn't bother calling after him, because he doesn't know what to say.


	15. Chapter 15

When the Sunny finally limps into Water Seven's main port, accompanied at a distance by the submarine that's dutifully escorted them the remaining way because it's become quite clear to Law that the traumatized Straw Hat captain and his equally overwhelmed crew will likely find themselves boarded and clapped in Kairoseki and irons by the occupants of the first Marine vessel to blunder upon them if he doesn't lend a hand, the ship's immediately recognized by members of the Galley-La yard, despite the absence of its Jolly Roger.

The pirates on-board operate on autopilot as they secure the rigging and go mechanically about the myriad other tasks necessary for docking, oblivious to the speculative crowd gathering below and not responding to the questions being shouted at them, but once they're anchored in the harbor, no one's quite sure what to do; it's been a long time since their last visit and following that year's record-breaking high tide, the island's undergone extensive reconstruction, so they don't recognize most of the buildings and other landmarks within eyesight.

Following a brief exchange with Sanji, who reluctantly agrees to temporarily take charge after the others unanimously elect him as acting captain because it's looking very unlikely that Luffy will emerge from the women's quarters where he's sequestered himself with their comatose swordsman long enough to give the crew the actual order to disembark, Franky vacates the ship and heads into the city in search of the man who might be the only one capable of helping them right now.

As he makes his way along the dock, the shipwright can't help cringing as he catches snippets of conversations between the people he's passing.

"-swear I've seen that brig sloop before, but I can't quite remember where-"

"How the hell can you NOT know that ship?"

"Yeah, it definitely belongs to Mugiwara Luffy, but what's it doing here? The paper said he-"

"-wonder if the Marines know he's back on this side of the Red Line?"

_Damn it, Franky, why'd you have to go and make the damn thing so easy to recognize? If it wasn't for that bloody huge lion head, then maybe those G-1 assholes might've mistaken Sunny for some other ship and not come gunnin' for us, and then maybe we coulda made it here before- _

The cyborg swipes angrily at the trickle of moisture escaping from beneath his lenses.

_Shit! C'mon, bro, keep it together- you gotta job to do._

He hasn't gone more than a few yards from the Sunny before he spots a familiar face. "Oi, Paulie!"

The foreman, now Vice President of Galley-La if Franky's memory serves correctly, glances over at hearing his name, starts to look away and does a disbelieving double-take. While Paulie's gotten a good look at the most recent wanted posters in both the regular newspaper and the Mizu Mizu as well, where Franky's dubious notoriety as a former Water Seven resident always earns him special consideration, seeing the man towering over him in the flesh is far more dramatic than a flat two-dimensional image printed on a piece of paper. "Fr-Franky? What the hell did you do to yourself?"

"Huh? Oh, you mean BF-37. Yeah, I know it's super, but you'll have to wait to hear about it 'til later, 'cause right now I gotta find Bakaburg. You seen-?"

"What're you doing here? The recent papers all claim the Mugiwara crew's busy causing trouble in the New World, so why-?"

"We were there alright, but we were mindin' our own goddamn business and- look, some really bad shit went down and I really need to talk to-" The cyborg's keen ears detect a ripple of excitement passing through the crowd around them, and he turns to see that Luffy's emerged onto the balcony overlooking the lawn deck. No one wanted to disturb the captain with the news of their arrival earlier, so he's apparently finally come to see why the ship's no longer moving, clutching the brim of his hat with one hand and blinking down at the strangers yelling his name, absolutely bewildered by the attention and looking so lost and so unlike himself that Franky wants to burst into tears.

_Don't you dare- he's got enough to deal with right now without his stupid shipwright bawling like a-_

A chill seizes his spine and sends the hair on the nape of his neck standing on end as he realizes where his thoughts are leading him. "-fuckin' hell."

"You alright?" Paulie asks, frowning, because the other man's glaring at the cobblestones beneath their feet, his massive hands balled into fists.

"Just fine," Franky mutters, forcing his fingers to relax as he watches the figure on the deck turn and vanish through the women's quarters' doorway only to return shortly, sans hat_._

_Guess you know where he left it, not that Zoro-bro's awake to see it or care, but who are you to judge if that's what makes him feel-_

"Nmaa, nmaa- would you care to explain what you're doing here, Bakanky?" An instantly recognizable voice asks matter-of-factly, and the cyborg glances down to find the Water Seven mayor - his former fellow apprentice and the man he also considers his unofficial foster brother - standing at his side with Tyrannosaurus cupped in one manicured hand and looking slightly puzzled as his eyes flit over the Sunny's battered frame before settling on the Straw Hat captain who's standing on the balcony, now gripping the railing and staring down at them.

"Oh, thank god, that ended up being easier than I expected- I thought I was gonna have to tear the whole damn city apart trying to find you. Got somethin' to ask you."

Iceburg looks up sharply at the joint tones of relief and desperation in that voice, all traces of amusement fading as Franky removes his sunglasses, full revealing his haggard expression and slightly bloodshot eyes. The Galley-La president frowns, quickly depositing his pet mouse into its usual place in his pocket and turning expectantly to Paulie.

"Don't look at me. He still hasn't told me what the hell they're doing here."

"Franky? What in the world's going on? I've never seen you look so-"

"I'll explain on the way. Let's go; I'm pretty sure Mugiwara's waiting for us."

xxx

Although he's shocked and somewhat confused by the brief story Franky's relayed to him as they've made their way down to the ship and then across the lawn deck to the top of the stairs where Luffy's waiting for them, Iceberg's a compassionate man and he's also been a politician long enough to know that the situation requires delicate handling. While his head's spinning with a million and one questions - _Did you really launch an all-out attack on Impel Down? Are the Marines chasing you even now, and are my citizens in danger? How the hell did your male lover get pregnant in the first place?_ - he knows this is not the time and place to ask them, so he allows nothing more than sympathy and support to show on his face.

"Franky says your swordsman's asleep, so this may be the best time to move him."

"Not sleeping-" The captain mumbles, ruffling a hand through his untidy hair and refusing to look them in the eyes. "Drugged. Law told Chopper to keep Zoro that way 'til we got here."

"Ass-hat Surgeon figured it'd be safer that way- didn't want anybody else gettin' hurt." The cyborg offers awkwardly when Iceburg flashes him a startled look, struggling to find the right words to explain why they deemed it necessary to render their own nakama unconscious and finding it extremely difficult to elaborate with Luffy standing right there listening. "Y'see, Zoro-bro didn't- didn't take this thing too well, and-"

"Zoro freaked out," the younger pirate states bluntly, and Franky winces at his crewmate's admission as he finally meets their gazes with hurt, unsettled eyes. "He didn't want me to- didn't want me to- to- and then I- Franky, I hit him when he was already-!"

"Luffy, don't-"

The rubber man swallows audibly, his lower jaw quivering as he squeezes the Adam wood banister beneath his hands tightly enough to turn his knuckles white and draw a creak of protest from the ship.

"We didn't know where else to go. We were headed here to- but after- ah, hell, we couldn't stay out there so we just came here anyway," Franky murmurs, and Iceburg catches movement in the corner of his eye as the rag-tag crew of remaining Straw Hats who've silently gathered on the lawn below shift uncomfortably, studying their own feet, watching the waves rolling forward to lap against Sunny's hull, looking anywhere and everywhere but at their captain's tormented expression or each other. Seeing such blatant defeat in the faces of people he's watched cheerfully take on everything from Aqua Laguna to CP9 agents to the populace of the Judicial Island itself... it leaves Iceburg feeling very uneasy.

While the captain and his swordsman might have been the ones to somehow miraculously conceive the baby, their nakama obviously feel the child's loss just as strongly, and he chides himself for not remembering that, unlike most of the other pirate crews he's encountered, this crew's always been more of a family unit than just a group of individuals banding together for a common purpose. He hears the truth resonating inside the emotional distress in Franky's voice, and when he studies the group below, it's painfully evident in every cell of their tense frames and in the dark shadows in the eyes of everyone but the skeleton- and even that unusual figure exudes his own distinct air of despair.

Iceburg's well-acquainted with the heartache of losing family, but he doesn't have children - has never really thought too much about it - so he can't imagine how the crew feels- how the Straw Hat captain and his swordsman feel- about having the infant snatched from their grasp before they even got a chance to know it.

_No- him, before they got to know him. Franky did say it was a boy._

"Whatever you need," the Galley-La president promises, laying a hand on Luffy's shoulder. "Whatever you need, it's yours and if I don't have it, I'll find a way to get it for you."

The young pirate mumbles something, scrubbing at his eyes with the knuckles of both hands, and Iceburg leans forward.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't catch-"

"... can't pay it back. Nami says we're broke 'cause we used everything to fix Sunny just enough so we wouldn't sink but Sunny's still all messed up and Franky says it'll cost a lot to put everything back to the way it was- but we don't even have money for food, but we NEED food; we need MEAT-" The captain asserts despairingly, his voice cracking slightly, "-'cause Zoro's gonna need something to eat when he wakes up or he's not gonna get better, but we don't have any-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Iceburg scolds gently, squeezing the shoulder trembling beneath his fingers reassuringly because the rubber man's faltering explanation is taking on an edge of hysteria. "What's mine is yours, and if you're worrying that I expect something in return, stop right now. I'm doing this for friends, and you'd do the same thing for me. In fact, you already have, so don't concern yourself with reimbursing me."

"Ice-ossan..." Luffy stares up at the mayor with watery eyes, and then he throws both arms around the older man's waist and hugs him tightly but carefully to avoid crushing the mouse in his pocket. "-thank you."

"Nmaa, there's no need for that either. Now let's see to your swordsman and everyone else. I'm sure you're all exhausted."

To the crew's immense relief, their benefactor immediately takes charge, clearing the dock and sternly dispersing any curious onlookers determined to find out what business the Straw Hat pirates have with Water Seven's most influential figure.

xxx

Despite his distress at Zoro's drugged and essentially comatose state, Luffy's forced to admit that Law is right. It's much easier to move the injured pirate off the ship when he's unconscious, dead to the world and completely unaware of the hands transferring him from bed to stretcher, and it's undoubtedly far safer for his nakama as well. None of them have forgotten his violent reaction to being startled awake, however, so even though they know he can't feel them touching him, they keep their voices low and try very hard not to jostle him more than necessary despite the surgeon's assurance that he'd keep sleeping even if they accidentally dumped him into the harbor.

The Heart pirate's honesty earns him several cold glares and one invitation to visually inspect the rectal cavity of the blissfully ignorant yagara bull waiting to escort them through the city's canals, courtesy of the infuriated cook, and all conversation abruptly ceases. Silence seems appropriate now anyway, with the rubber man crouching beside the gurney and clutching their crewmate's limp, unresponsive hand, eyes hidden beneath the shadow of his hat.

Franky, pleased that Law's declared his intent to stay on his own ship rather than accompany them to the structure serving as both Iceburg's home and the Galley-La headquarters, barely restrains himself from presenting one large middle finger as they pull away from the dock. He's pretty sure Nami, who normally gets on his case about such rude gestures, will pretend not to notice and that Sanji won't make an issue of him offending the ladies, but he settles for a dark scowl. Flipping the bird seems childish and far too inadequate to describe the contempt he feels for the other man.

_You mighta saved Haramaki-bro at least, but you're still an asshole, Sideburns._

Once they've arrived at their destination, Chopper, unsure how his patient will react to waking and remembering the events of the past few days, firmly insists on clearing the room before he administers the dose that will end the older pirate's medication-induced slumber, and everyone accepts their banishment without complaint- except the captain, who inadvertently reduces the reindeer to tears by insisting he isn't leaving, not considering what happened the last time he was kicked out of the room. He doesn't really mean to make the Zoan cry, but his outburst pays off and he's allowed to stay.

In the end, it doesn't matter: after regaining consciousness, Zoro merely blinks listlessly at the worried faces peering anxiously down at him, closes his eye again and turns his face towards the wall, dismissing them both. Luffy spends the hours until dawn curled at the swordsman's side and listening to him breathe, painfully aware that his lover's awake and waiting anxiously for him to say something- anything- but he never does.

xxx

Zoro still won't speak the next morning, but he does utter a faint growling noise and turn briefly combative despite his captain's restraining arms when Law pays a brief visit to check his sutures, prompting the disgruntled surgeon to mutter a scathing remark about wounded tigers as he dresses his own bleeding forearm with antiseptic solution and bandages. Roronoa's weapons, whole and damaged alike, might be currently residing in a long wooden storage box in the next room, but the Pirate Hunter obviously doesn't need them- the man's got jaws like a goddamn steel trap.

_Yeah, he nailed you good, but it was your own fucking fault, Trafalgar,_ he scolds himself silently as he stuffs the wastebasket to overflowing with the bloodstained gauze roll bandages he's unwrapped from the swordsman's waist and hips in exchange for a simple gauze pad that will be less confining and much easier to change.

_Shoulda known he'd react badly to somebody poking and prodding at him and paid more frickin' attention to how tense he was getting. And you probably should've avoided mentioning the kid when Blondie asked you why the guy still looks pregnant._

Even without the baby's presence to stretch everything to maximum capacity, Zoro's belly is still distressingly distended from fluid retention caused by the abdominal surgery, and even though the crew accepts the visiting doctor's assurance that the tissue should start retracting as soon as his patient's on his feet and walking, they have a hard time looking at the reminder of what's been lost despite - or perhaps because of - the older pirate's disturbing insistence on ignoring his swollen midsection as though refusing to acknowledge it's even there.

Unless someone makes the mistake of touching him, at which point he reacts immediately and violently, as they've just found out.

Law gives detailed post-operative care instructions to Chopper and refuses to leave until he secures a promise from his fellow captain to meet him at the dock in the next few days, warning the younger man that he'll come hunting for him if he doesn't show up before the Heart pirates' submarine is scheduled to depart.

He knows Luffy's probably not going to want to hear what he's got to say, but after only a brief time of watching the Straw Hat crew's interactions, he knows they've got some serious problems on their hands. Not that he particularly cares about their emotional states, he assures himself, but someone's made him a promise and the New World he's planning to soon return to is going to be an awfully boring place without some serious competition. He hopes it doesn't take these people too long to get their shit together and follow, but it's looking like that will depend entirely on their captain.

_I've got a bad feeling, Mugiwara-san; things like this usually get worse before they get better._

The remainder of the day drags on for what seems like forever, and the crew spends it confined to the second floor where their rooms are located, wandering the hallways and speaking to each other in hushed, clipped tones. Usopp gets turned around coming back from the bathroom and can't help wondering how many times their directionally-challenged nakama's going to get lost when he finally-

Nami and Robin find the sniper huddled on the floor three doors down from the one he was trying to find, sobbing quietly into his elbow and clutching a small object that he quickly shoves into his overalls at their approach, staggering upright and greeting them with a tremulous smile as he assures them that he was just resting his eyes for a moment.

"Liar," the navigator accuses softly, studying his damp cheeks and bloodshot eyes, and although her gaze lingers on the shaking hand pressed protectively over his pocket, she doesn't demand to see what he's hiding as she and the historian help him to his feet. When Sanji emerges into the hallway to see what's taking them so long, he discovers Usopp and Nami clinging helplessly to each other and Robin, the older woman moist-eyed and solemn as she embraces her weeping crewmates in a tangle of extra limbs.

After that, the crew makes sure no one goes anywhere alone.

Luffy spends the day watching his uncommunicative swordsman continue to stare blankly at the wall.

At first, despite Law's patient insistence that Zoro spoke to him briefly after waking following the surgery, Chopper's concerned that the older pirate may have permanently damaged his vocal cords during the laparotomy, when he was screaming loudly enough to be heard in Franky's development room at the opposite end of the ship. But that night, when he bolts upright howling for the woman haunting his dreams to leave him- to leave THEM- the fuck alone, he scares his sleeping crewmates so badly that Sanji nearly kicks Usopp through the wall, and they realize that it's a case of won't rather than can't as they crowd around the bed and try to help their troubled captain wake the panic-stricken swordsman.

Rousing their dreaming nakama proves to be a dangerous endeavor, and there's several bloody noses and split lower lips before they're able to calm him enough to stop swinging fists at them, but no one complains. Recognizing there's no way anyone's getting back to sleep, Sanji, Brook and Robin leave briefly to retrieve coffee, tea and hot chocolate from the Galley-La kitchen, and when the trio returns, everyone sits sipping the hot liquid and trying to pretend they're not listening to Luffy's futile attempts to coax the older pirate into responding to his plaintive questions.

The Straw Hats have been sharing two conjoined suites and leaving the door open between them despite Iceburg's insistence that they each take their own room. The slightly cramped quarters don't bother them, and if some of them are sleeping on the floor or doubling up on the bed not already occupied by Zoro and the captain - who can't rest unless he's sure the older pirate's safely beside him - at least they're surrounded by nakama.

xxx

A few weeks later, when he's perched on the balcony railing outside one of their second floor rooms and peering down at the thread he's unraveling from his pants' cuff, Luffy finds himself at a complete loss on where to go from here. They've been assured repeatedly that they're safe, offered food and lodging and access to any medical equipment their doctor might deem necessary, but now that his immediate concerns and his nakama's basic needs have been met, the rubber man doesn't know what to do because Zoro's still not talking to him. Beyond an occasional muffled grunt if he's startled badly enough, the swordsman hasn't uttered so much as a word.

Luffy abandons the fraying fabric he's picked loose and wraps his arms around his legs, balancing precariously as he rests his chin on his knees and stares glumly at the setting sun, blinking periodically to clear the dampness beading in the corners of his eyes. He knows he should go back inside soon, check on his lover and find out what the rest of his crew's doing before Paulie comes along and scolds him for being outside in nothing but his shorts, but staying cooped up inside day after day is taking a toll on him. He's not accustomed to being surrounded by four walls for so long, and he's full of so much nervous energy that he wonders if he might not explode from sheer tension, but he doesn't know what to do with it.

He knows he's not the only one. The entire crew's restless and unhappy.

Despite their agreement to stick together, they've started drifting away from each other: Sanji to the kitchens, Robin to the library, Franky and Usopp to the shipyard to supervise the repairs being completed on the ship. The captain's slightly startled when he suddenly realizes that he has no idea where to find Nami or Chopper, although he's fairly sure that Brook's haunting the open courtyard at the building's center, plucking despondently at his guitar in the hopes of playing at least one song that doesn't sound like a funeral dirge.

Skull jokes have been few and far between these days.

And Zoro-

Now that he's no longer confined to a bed, the swordsman roams aimlessly throughout the mansion during the day, avoiding everyone and only returning to their rooms at night. He eats - sparingly - and sleeps - badly - but he does little else. Despite Chopper's fears that he'll insist on retrieving his weights from the ship and once again re-injure himself before he's fully healed, he's shown no interest in resuming his training, and aside from one incident where he drank himself into a stupor and spent the entirety of the following day curled up in bed between bouts of violent illness, he hasn't touched the liquor cabinets. Although he'll never admit it, the captain's secretly and shamefully disappointed, because he's found himself speculating more than once that a drunk Zoro might be a slightly more talkative Zoro...

No such luck. Even while inebriated, the older pirate somehow manages to continue holding his tongue, although he reduces the room to shambles before finally passing out with his back propped against the wall, wedged tightly into a corner where he can see the entire room and presumably defend himself from whoever or whatever he's convinced might attack him. Iceburg, drawn by the sounds of furniture being bounced off the walls, watches in silence as Franky turns the bed right-side-up and dismisses Nami's repeated apologies about the fist-sized holes in the walls.

_Damage like that is so easy to repair. Fill the fissure with spackling, smooth it over and slap on a few coats of paint, and it's as good as new,_ the Galley-La president contemplates to himself as he watches Luffy pull the unconscious swordsman into his arms, the captain's face pinched with distress and concern as he carries his unresisting first mate across the room and tucks him gently under the covers.

_Patch it well and no one will ever know unless they're looking for the seams- but a broken human heart's not quite so easy to fix._

While Zoro's avoided training and alcohol, he's found a new obsession to replace his old bad habits of excessive exercise and overindulgence. The first time Sanji discovers him, huddled on the tile floor under a showerhead spraying water so hot it's filled the entire room with swirling steam and scouring his reddened skin so thoroughly that he's actually drawn blood from the scar tissue dividing his chest, the cook immediately stumbles back out in search of Chopper, convinced their nakama's given himself first-degree burns at best.

The doctor has since managed to convince Zoro to turn the temperature down so he doesn't scald himself again, but talking him out of the increasingly frequent showers has been another story entirely, and finding the green-haired pirate skulking in the hallway outside the bathhouse until he's got the place to himself has quickly become commonplace to both the Straw Hat crew and the Galley-La staff. No one complains, and if Usopp and Franky have both walked in on their crewmate silently examining the angry-looking row of stitches on his slowly deflating abdomen, they don't mention it to each other or anyone else.

The tension builds until it's unbearable. Conversations start and die unfinished, and tempers flare and sharp words are exchanged and before long they all stop talking to each other about anything other than superficial pleasantries, such as the weather or what's for dinner, although no one really gives a shit about such things when they're too busy watching Zoro slowly shutting himself off from the world outside his own head.

Luffy's nakama have faced and defeated any number of enemies, saved kingdoms and toppled empires. They've faced insurmountable odds and emerged not entirely unscathed but certainly victorious, and they've shared a bond and a trust so strong that after being separated by Bartholomew Kuma, they spent the next two years thinking of nothing but preparing and bettering themselves for their next meeting. They've supported each other through so many trials since then, every one of them dedicated to their captain's calling, to each others' dreams.

But they can't overcome the whispering, nagging voices inside their own heads, which are slowly succeeding where the Tyrant failed.

The rubber man climbs down from his perch onto the balcony proper and wipes his sweaty palms on his shorts before reaching reluctantly for the sliding door's handle. He doesn't want to admit it, not to the others and especially not to himself, but it's glaringly obvious that Law's prediction is proving true.

His crew is falling apart.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: If it's not immediately clear, Law and Luffy's conversation takes place shortly after the Straw Hats' arrival at Water Seven but before Zoro's officially allowed out of bed, so it's technically a flashback at this point, hence the italicized text. I had to leave Law's thoughts in regular text to hopefully avoid confusion, as FF's pretty limited in what it would allow me to do with the font.

xxx

_"Look, Mugiwara-san, I know you don't want to hear this right now, but I'm gonna say it again anyway: you need to do something about your crew."_

_"There's nothing wrong with my crew." Luffy insists stubbornly, resentment clear on his face. "Zoro's the one who- "_

_Law slams his hand down on the table forcefully enough to bounce the silverware on the table and make the younger pirate jump._

_"Cut the shit, okay? I know you're upset that Roronoa won't talk to you, but- are you that fucking BLIND to what's happening right in front of you?" The Heart captain demands, his fingers twitching with the urge to reach over and shake some sense into the man sitting across from him. "You're so goddamn focused on your first mate that you're forgetting about the rest of your nakama."_

_"But Zoro needs-"_

_"What he needs is a good hard kick in the ass," Law snaps. "He's being just as stupid as you."_

_The Straw Hat captain's face darkens so dramatically that the surgeon tenses, knowing he's probably gone a bit too far - "irrationally self-condemning" would've been a much better choice of words than "stupid" to explain their understandable yet calamitous reaction to the situation - and half-expecting to find himself on the receiving end of a fist or body-slammed into the bar stool behind him, but although Luffy's trembling all over and glaring at him with ill-concealed malice, the rubber man doesn't budge from his seat._

_"You're both torn up over losing your son. I get that, and you're right- it fucking sucks and nobody should ever have to deal with shit like this. But you've gotta stop feeling guilty for something you had no control over-"_

_The younger pirate opens his mouth to protest, but he's cut off._

_"-and you need to quit second-guessing yourself, because it doesn't matter how much you agonize over what MIGHT'VE happened. You and Roronoa and your whole damn crew- you guys are so busy turning this thing over in your heads, asking yourselves what you could've done differently, that you're missing the big picture. What happened- happened. Deal with it."_

_"I don't-"_

_"Shut up, Mugiwara. I didn't say get over it, I said deal with it. Stop asking yourself "what if"' and start thinking about where you're going from here." He leans forward, jabbing his forefinger against Luffy's sternum. "And I'm warning you right now- this thing's way too big for you to handle by yourself; you need the rest of your people to get their heads out of the clouds. You're their captain- they'll follow your lead and they'll listen to you, but only if you wake the fuck up and start doing your goddamn job."_

_"But what am I supposed to-?"_

_"You already know what you need to do. Talk to them- get all that shit you've got bottled up inside out before it eats you alive, and make sure they do the same. Scream and throw shit at each other, break down and cry on each other's shoulders or - hell, I don't care - throw a fucking crew-wide orgy-" He ignores Luffy's shocked mmph of surprise. "-if that's what it takes to get everybody square. Just do it now, before they start finding excuses to avoid talking to you or each other, because you've already got one person building a wall around himself- you don't need seven more."_

___Law slouches back in his chair, pausing to organize his thoughts as he studies the dark smudges under the Straw Hat captain's eyes._  


Whole damn crew's got themselves convinced this is their fault. That tanuki doctor's kicking himself for not diagnosing the hemorrhage sooner, even though there's no way he would've known without some heavy duty scanning equipment. The navigator's convinced it's her fault for not finding a faster route, and Blondie's beating himself up over not protecting Roronoa from the Admirals in the first place. Even Nico-san's second-guessing herself, and I get the impression that woman's normally got confidence to burn. I don't know why the hell they keep talking to me instead of coming to you- fuck, Blondie and that screwy cyborg both hate my guts.

But if the rest of you insist on holding yourselves responsible for the kid's death, who knows what the hell's going through Roronoa's mind right now. At least your doctor and your navigator and Blondie and the others all tried to get it off their chests, even if they hit up the wrong person- your swordsman's killing himself by small degrees keeping everything locked inside his head like this. I don't think he's gonna throw himself off the roof or commit seppuku or anything quite that drastic - he doesn't seem the suicidal type - but-

_"Roronoa's waking everybody up in the middle of the night."_

_It's a statement, not a question, and the other pirate hastily averts his gaze. "... yeah."_

_"He dreams about Impel Down."_

_"... he dreams about HER," Luffy growls, his voice strained with distress and outrage and something that might be jealousy._

_"I'm not surprised. Your doctor filled me in on some of the shit that woman did to your swordsman." The Heart pirate traces one finger through the ring of water collecting on the tabletop from the condensation beading on his whiskey glass. "Roronoa's one gutsy bastard, but I don't care how tough you or your crew think he is- nobody goes through something like that without racking up some serious emotional damage. He can tell everybody he's fine until he's fucking blue in the face, but he's not, and I think you already know that since you're the one who talked him down when the guy had a flashback and tried to kill one of his own nakama."_

_He's about to remind Law that Zoro's not telling everybody he's fine - or anything else, for that matter - because Zoro's still not speaking to anyone, but the rubber man's distracted by the surgeon's choice of vocabulary. "Flash-?"_

_"Flashback. Really strong, really nasty hallucination. Roronoa wasn't just remembering that Impel Down bitch fucking around with him- he was one-hundred-percent convinced that she was in the room and it was real and happening all over again right then and there. Your navigator probably triggered it when she touched him while he was still disoriented, and once it got ahold of him, even though he might have been vaguely aware of what he was doing, he had no control over his own actions. She's probably lucky to be alive."_

_The younger man shifts uncomfortably. "Chopper said Zoro didn't mean to hurt Nami- that he got scared and was just trying to protect himself and the- the baby."_

_He's relieved when mentioning the child doesn't prompt more than a thoughtful nod from the older man. Talking about his son makes his chest ache, like his jagged X-shaped scar's somehow re-opened somewhere deep inside, but pretending that he - pretending that ACE - didn't exist doesn't feel right, even though his crewmates don't share his sentiment and either pretend they didn't hear him or awkwardly change the subject. And while their reluctance to discuss the baby bothers him, Zoro's absolute refusal to even look him in the eye much less respond to his burning need to talk about the loss they've both suffered makes him want to punch and kick things._

_Hiding his frustration - he doesn't want to upset his already unbalanced swordsman any more than necessary - only makes it worse._

_"Your doctor told me how she cut her hair." Law sighs. "It's a nice gesture and all, but it's really not gonna do shit to keep her - or anybody else - safe if his brain goes haywire again, and I can pretty much guarantee that it will at some point. There's no way of knowing just what's going to set somebody off with stuff like this. Could be physical contact, sounds-"_

_"Nami's shoes..."_

_"-certain phrases, odors- the list is fucking endless. And you're gonna need your whole crew watching each others' backs so he doesn't accidentally bump somebody off while you're trying to figure out what'll make him freak out." The surgeon tosses back the last of his drink. "It's a damn shame the kid didn't make it, 'cause that might've helped with the rest of it- kept him too busy worrying about somebody else to think about his own problems."_

Instead, Roronoa's not only suffering from what's well on its way to developing into post-traumatic stress disorder after getting used like a goddamn live sex toy for a few months, but he's also letting his guilt eat him alive for losing the baby. Doesn't matter that he's not saying it- you can see it in his face. It's no coincidence he won't look you in the eyes, Mugiwara- he's probably convinced he killed your kid doing that crazy shit with the auras when he went ape-shit and ripped that bitch's throat out_,_ and thank fuckin' god he HASN'T tried talking to me about it, 'cause who am I to say that he isn't right? Way he looked inside, whatever he did tore him up pretty good- and it's a good thing you guys showed up when you did, 'cause if he'd tried to walk out of Impel Down on his own instead of sitting down and blacking out long enough for the rupture to start clotting_,_ he woulda bled out on the spot.

'Course he re-opened it trying to kill your navigator- and sitting up in bed instead of just fucking staying put like your doctor told him, so in a way he really did do this to himself... but neither of you need to know any of that.

_Law doesn't consider himself as particularly soft-hearted, but he does not want to be the one to confirm the swordsman's suspicions that he might be responsible for causing the hemorrhage that claimed his own child's life. Unintentionally, of course, but he doesn't think Roronoa will care to make that distinction.  
_

_Luffy's staring down at his hands, silently examining the fingernails he's chewed to the quick, and the doctor sighs again._

_"One last word of advice and I'll stop nagging you." He's debated saying anything, because it's really none of his business, but he's already stuck his nose this deep into the Straw Hat captain's unconventional personal life, so what the hell. "Roronoa's got a shit ton of issues to work through, so don't- don't push him into anything before he's ready, or you're both gonna regret it."_

_The younger pirate blinks, looking somewhat confused. "But Zoro's always the one who wants to start training and fighting and stuff before he's better. Chopper gets really mad at-"_

_"I'm not talking about-" The Heart pirate grimaces, wondering just how the hell anybody can be so goddamn precocious yet so bloody naive. "I meant sex- you know, fucking? He's not ready for it now, and he's probably not gonna be ready for a long time, so don't push him. You got two hands, and I'm assuming you know how to use at least one of 'em, so unless you wanna find yourself picking your teeth off the floor, I'd stick to beating o-"_

_His well-meaning but badly-implemented admonition is curtailed by Luffy's untouched and suddenly airborne water glass, which hits him square between the eyes hard enough to snap his head back._

_"Get off my ship," the rubber man hisses, his face blazing with anger and disgust, but he's already whirling and storming outside before the sputtering surgeon can remind him that he's the one who insisted on meeting here on-board the Sunny._

_"Luffy, what's-?" Usopp's voice, accompanied by the repetitive pounding of wooden mallets, drifts in before the rebounding dining hall door slams shut. "OI, don't touch that- I just-!"_

_Something heavy smashes against the galley's exterior paneling, and Franky's cursing is loud enough to be heard through the wall._

_"Oi, Mugiwara, quit wrecking the bloody ship while we're trying to fix it!"_

_"Damn," Law mutters, rubbing his bruised forehead as he retrieves the now empty glass from his lap, water dripping from his goatee onto his soaked hoodie and jeans. "That sure went over well."_

xxx

_Despite his outrage that the Heart pirate thought it necessary to warn him about something so ridiculously obvious – he only needs to look at his swordsman to know that keeping his hands to himself is the only option worth taking, and the very idea of coercing the older pirate into unwanted intimacy makes him feel nauseous and cold inside – Luffy can't dispute the fact that Law's made some very good points._

_The crew needs to talk- and soon, because although he adamantly refuted it, he's seen the same warning signs. The way his nakama are gradually but undeniably withdrawing from him and each other, spending more and more time in strained silence. But he's been, as the surgeon pointed out, too absorbed by his own guilty conscience and unsuccessful attempts to pry Zoro free of the hard shell he's intently constructing around himself._

_Maybe Law's right. Maybe he needs help._

_Trudging back to their temporary home, he decides it's finally time to sit down and have a word with his nakama- "get everyone square" as his fellow captain put it. They've put it off long enough, and if he's got a few things to say that his crewmates don't necessarily want to hear, he doesn't care. He needs to tell somebody how he feels - somebody other than Law, anyway – before he spontaneously combusts from sheer stress and frustration._

_His plan derails when Chopper and Usopp burst from the front door, tongue-tied with panic, because while they've left him unattended for no more than a moment or two, sure that he was finally sleeping uninterrupted, Zoro's gone missing and somehow managed to evade their desperate search for the last hour, and the captain's immediately caught up in the ensuing chaos as he joins them in turning the mansion upside down looking for the stray swordsman._

_By the time they discover the older pirate swathed in a towel and wedged securely behind the laundry bin in the far corner of the bathhouse and manage to coax him, half-asleep and stiff from nodding off in such an awkward position, back to the room, the captain's completely forgotten his original intentions._

xxx

The steady decline of the crew's morale continues unabated, until – as Law feared – the bottom finally drops out, things go from bad to worse and the metaphorical shit hits the fan when Luffy's startled awake in the middle of the night by a warm body crushed against his back, arms curled tightly around his torso and blunt heat nudging his thigh as Zoro gropes blindly at him, rubbing his face against the younger pirate's neck and uttering a low breathy whine in his ear.

If Luffy was more cognizant, he'd try to ignore the satisfying tension humming through his body and either feign sleep and wait for his drowsy crewmate to settle back into deeper slumber or shake him awake and find out what's going on.

But he's not thinking clearly, because he's confused and disoriented and aroused at being woken in such a way and it's been a long time and even though he smells disinfectant and feels the bandages brushing against his lower back - his cotton-padded brain dimly recalls that the swordsman's still recovering from some kind of injury, but he's too groggy at first to remember exactly what - it's not the first time that one of them's initiated sex despite being seriously wounded, so the captain instinctively rolls over and pins the older pirate beneath him.

His lingering torpidity is his only excuse for mistaking the resulting sharp inhalation for a sound of pleasure, and he's pressing hungry kisses against the swordsman's parted lips and caressing his scarred chest, fingers tracing the raised ridge of damaged tissue left by the path of Mihawk's blade as his other hand fumbles to tug down the drawstring jogging pants barring his way, when his head finally clears enough to comprehend that the other man's gone stiff and unresponsive to his touch.

The younger pirate squirms, awareness that something's badly amiss finally registering when he discovers the unexpected contrast where he's grinding their groins together- his partner's abruptly gone hard and soft in all the wrong places. Although the rest of Zoro's body feels rigid as steel, his erection's completely wilted, and when Luffy draws back to look, mystified because that's certainly never happened before, at least not that he remembers anyway, one look at his first mate's face sends him scrambling towards the foot of the bed and offering frantic apologies.

The swordsman's remaining eye is squeezed tightly shut, holding back the tears threatening to join those already dampening his right cheek and temple, and there's no mistaking his expression for anything other than a pained and duly terrified grimace. Even after the captain releases him, he remains prone and breathing shallowly, as though he's determined to will his mind somewhere- anywhere- else while he clenches his teeth and awaits the inevitable.

Feeling helpless and not knowing quite what to do, the younger pirate reaches out to touch him without thinking, and when his questing fingertips brush the older man's thigh, rashly seeking to soothe the tension that's pulled every muscle into a tight, straining knot, it's as though he's flipped a switch: Zoro surges off the mattress, grabbing Luffy by the throat with his good hand and slamming him into the wall above the headboard hard enough to crack the plaster.

The rubber man grunts as his back impacts with the wall, breath knocked from his lungs by the sheer force behind the swordsman's blow, but he doesn't cry out or try to free himself, too horrified and ashamed at his own carelessness to pry his lover's fingers loose. "Zoro, I-"

"Don't."

Any hope that the captain feels expanding inside his chest at the sound of that low voice, rough and rusty with disuse, shrivels at the pure hatred gleaming in Zoro's narrowed eye.

"I'm sorry-" Luffy tells him honestly, struggling to make himself heard despite the excruciating pressure on his neck as the fingers gripping him spasm and squeeze a little tighter as his crewmate shifts uncomfortably, trying to put a bit more distance between their lower halves because the captain's body hasn't quite caught up to his brain and made the connection that poking his overwrought swordsman in the lower belly is an incredibly bad idea. "I-I really messed up, touching Zoro like-"

"Leave us alone-" the green-haired man snarls, the outrage in his tone contradicting the way he's trembling all over, as though a weak live current's surging through him. "My nakama are gonna kill-"

_Oh. OH._

The younger pirate doesn't know whether to feel devastated that Zoro's suffering another flashback or relieved that he's addressing a ghost; he can't stand seeing the other man trapped inside his own awful memories, yet he's consoled by the thought that all that overwhelming animosity and revulsion's aimed at someone else and not himself. It already hurts enough that the other pirate won't talk to him and sometimes barely acknowledges his presence, and if Zoro genuinely hated him as well-

Fear-tinged sorrow washes over him like a tidal wave of freezing water, effectively killing any lingering interest his body's been displaying in response to his lover's close proximity.

"Why won't you DIE?"

"Zoro- Zoro, it's me- it's not-"

"Luffy, what- OI, what the hell's going on here?"

The captain tears his eyes off his swordsman's face to find Sanji standing in the doorway, staring at them with wide eyes, and realizes their voices have been loud enough to wake the cook in the other room. "Sorry, Sanji, but Zoro's-"

"Shit- hold on and I'll-"

"Don't touch him!" Luffy blurts, choking briefly when Zoro tenses at the blond's approach and squeezes warningly. "J-Just go back to bed, okay? I can-"

"Are you fucking crazy? He's trying to-!"

"It's not his fault- he woke me up and I did something dumb and I scared him! H-He doesn't mean it!" The desperation in the younger pirate's voice is frightening. "He didn't mean to hurt Nami, and he doesn't really wanna hurt me either, but Law said it's like Zoro doesn't know what's going on and thinks he's talking to and fighting somebody else when-"

"That won't make you any less dead if he-!"

A shudder passes through their disoriented nakama's frame and the captain feels a slight slackening in the grip holding him pinned to the wall like a over-sized insect.

"Zoro, it's me- it's Luffy," he pleads, his gaze darting wildly between the swordsman and Sanji, who's continuing to edge closer despite his orders, and the rubber man knows that if he doesn't talk Zoro down now, before the cook decides to make his move, there's a good chance of someone getting seriously hurt or even ending up dead. The other two members of the Monster Trio may both be recovering from severe injuries, but they're still strong enough to cause each other - and any nakama unlucky enough to come between them, because it's only a matter of time before the others appear, drawn by the noise and tension - serious damage, and although the captain trusts Sanji not to hurt Zoro more than necessary, he doesn't have much faith in the opposite, not with his first mate unable to tell the difference between reality and memory. "I won't touch Zoro again, I promise. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I just- Zoro surprised me!"

He knows he's babbling, but he can't help it, and ironically enough, it's his repetition of the swordsman's name that finally breaks through the hazy crimson cloud of anger and fear that's suffocating the older pirate, because Sadi never called him by his first name. He was always Roronoa to her, sometimes Pirate Hunter or other far more derogatory nicknames, but never Zoro.

"Oi, Marimo, you don't wanna do something you're gonna regret. Put him down, now."

_Sencho- Sencho and the shitty cook? What are they doing here, and what the hell am I- Luffy? LUFFY!_

"See, Sanji, I told you he'd-" Luffy's relief at the clarity returning to his lover's face as Zoro blinks at him, dazed, melts into shock as the older man abruptly drops him as though burned and throws himself backwards, scrabbling for the edge of the bed so violently that he slips off the mattress and crashes to the floor. "Ah, Zoro, what's-?"

The swordsman's upright and moving, swiping a discarded shirt from the growing pile of dirty wash they've been meaning to deal with for some time now, and bolting for the glass sliding door leading to the balcony before either the captain or Sanji can move, and for a moment they're both afraid he's going to go straight through it. Thankfully he slows down long enough to fumble the lock open, nearly ripping the door from its track in his recklessness.

"Damn it, don't you dare, you stupid mosshead- we're on the second floor and you're still-!"

Luffy reaches the open door just in time to watch as Zoro launches himself feet-first over the balcony railing, and he almost flings an arm after the older pirate, intent on reeling him back to safety, but when he sees the expression on the swordsman's face, he falters, and then it's too late and he's clinging to the railing to keep his balance because his knees want to buckle and he can't breathe and he feels like he's going to faint or throw up or both, maybe at the same time.

_Stupid-stupid-stupid, what were you thinking, what've you done, did you see his face- you were the only one Zoro really felt safe with anymore and now he's AFRAID of you!_

Sanji joins him outside, shouting for the goddamn shitty swordsman - who's somehow managed to land on his feet despite the fall - to get his ass back inside, and the cook's measuring the distance to the ground below, tensing his legs to jump down in pursuit, when he's stopped by the captain's hand on his arm.

"L-Let him go."

"Somebody needs to-"

"Let him go," Luffy orders again, more firmly this time, and when the blond whirls on him to angrily demand an explanation, it dies unspoken at the pain and regret evident in the white-faced younger pirate's eyes.

"Luffy-"

The captain nudges past him, glancing over at the confused cluster of nakama watching silently from the doorway between the rooms. Robin's brow is furrowed and Brook is quietly studying his own bony toes, but Franky is sniffling pitifully and clutching an equally distressed-looking Chopper like a plush teddy bear, and Usopp and Nami are clinging to each others' sleeves. Sanji steps back inside, sliding the door closed with a stiff, jerky movement that plainly exhibits how he feels without the need for words.

"Zoro- Zoro will be back," Luffy assures them, although he doesn't sound entirely sure of it himself. "He just- he just needs some time by himself, I guess."

Nami steps forward to draw him into a hug, too upset to either notice or care that he's naked and uncertain if she's doing it for him or more for herself, but the rubber man shrugs her off.

"Everybody should go back to bed."

His tone leaves no room for argument, and after exchanging hesitant glances, they slowly wander back into the other room.

Sanji stays and, when the younger pirate doesn't protest his presence, settles into the empty chair beside the bed as Luffy burrows into the sheets, leaving only the top of his unruly mop of black hair visible. For a few moments, there's nothing but uncomfortable silence- just the steady sounds of two crewmates breathing almost in tandem, and then a faint strangled noise that might be a whimper and the heap of blankets begins to tremble as the Straw Hat captain drags his pillow under the covers and curls himself into a tight ball around it, shaking uncontrollably and burying his face against the material that holds Zoro's lingering scent.

The cook closes his eyes, resigning himself to another long and sleepless night.


	17. Chapter 17

WARNINGS: ANGST; potentially disturbing material, including discussion of psychological effects of rape/non-consensual sex.

xxx

It's raining fine mist as he stumbles across the lawn, still wrestling with his shirt because he's somehow turned it inside-out in his haste to get dressed, but Zoro doesn't care about the moisture falling from the dark sky. The gloomy weather suits his mood.

The night air is surprisingly chilly after the oppressive warmth of the room he's just escaped, and the cool breeze wafting off the ocean surrounding Water Seven quickly raises goose bumps on his bare shoulders as he struggles into the jersey, ignoring the purr of ripping fabric as he tears the seam along one sleeve. He can't seem to stop shivering, although he'd much prefer to blame it on the cold rather than the way his heart's slamming wildly in his chest, spurred by fear and guilt-based adrenaline.

He spares a hesitant glance behind him, half-expecting to see his captain running after him or at least still watching him from above, but the balcony's now empty, and he doesn't know whether to feel disappointed or relieved that Luffy's gone back inside.

_You're damn lucky he's made of rubber. You could've broken his neck, grabbing him and throwing him against the wall like that._

Which is entirely true, although he can't quite suppress a twinge of resentment at the younger pirate for scaring him so badly. When he'd woken suddenly to find someone climbing on top of him, hands tearing at his waistband and an insistent tongue forcing its way into his mouth, at first he'd been too startled and confused to recognize who was groping him. But then his panic-stricken mind had identified the low groan escaping his assailant's mouth as his captain's- as Luffy's voice, and his brain had immediately skipped the fight-or-flight response entirely in favor of trying to shut down and make everything go away, constricting his airways so dramatically that he couldn't breathe much less plead with the other man to stop.

If his lover hadn't realized something was wrong-

Zoro's not entirely sure how the idea of sex makes him feel right now but "terrified" and "ill" certainly come to mind.

While everyone's aware that he's not sleeping well and by this point it's become common knowledge that he's having nightmares, considering how many times he's woken the entire crew with his flailing and shouting, the swordsman's positive they don't know what kind of fucked up shit his subconscious hits him with some nights. While there's the occasional normal and idiotic nonsense, like the one where he walks into the dining hall and realizes he's naked and everyone's staring at him or the one where he's back on Kuraigana Island and Perona's paralyzing him with Negative Hollows so she can tie tiny yellow ribbons in his hair, most of his dreams are incredibly dark and revolve around his time in Impel Down. He supposes his nakama have guessed this already.

But while dreaming about Wado breaking into a million pieces or about his fingers being cut off or about the trident haft forcing its way into his body is unpleasant, none of those dreams make him wake up clutching his pillow and trying not to scream in frustration and pure revulsion at the sensation of Luffy's arms wrapped snugly around his torso or the lips brushing his shoulder or the back of his neck as the younger pirate murmurs reassuringly in an effort to calm him, and if his crewmates knew the real reason why he's been forcing himself to stay awake until he's reeling with fatigue - and why he's become so obsessed with bathing - they'd probably never be able to look him in the face again.

It's the other goddamn dreams that make him want to scrub himself raw. The ones that started nearly two weeks ago when that horrible crawly feeling and the elusive feminine scent clinging to his skin - which is surely only in his head but never fails to turn his stomach whenever he thinks he catches a whiff of it - got to be too much again and he'd slipped into the bathhouse for a shower, only to discover someone else had gotten there first and just been interrupted in what was obviously a private moment of stress relief. They'd stood there wide-eyed and staring at each other for a moment, and - not thinking, not acting on anything other than instinct and routine habit - Zoro had nearly opened his mouth to ask if Luffy needed a hand, but the rubber man had moved first, lunging for a towel to hide himself and bolting out of the room with a stammered apology.

Staring down at the rumpled vest and shorts piled on the tile at his feet and listening to Paulie shrieking at the Straw Hat captain for running bare-assed down the hallway, the swordsman had been alarmed and confused by the familiar warmth kindling inside his groin and stomach and spent his shower trying very hard not to touch himself more than necessary, turning the cold faucet to full blast and wondering just what the hell was wrong with him, because he shouldn't be interested in THAT- not so soon after- maybe not ever.

He'd spent the remaining afternoon stalking from one end of the building to the other and doing his damnedest to avoid everyone, plagued by an erection that refused to subside and too upset and disconcerted to do anything about it. Even the thought of masturbating - just long enough to make the damn thing go away - made him feel sick inside, and he'd retreated to the one place where he knew it'd be cold enough to make everything down there quit bothering him and just climb back inside his body where it belonged.

Sanji hadn't said a word when he'd opened the Galley-La walk-in freezer door and found the swordsman huddled between two racks of frozen goods with his breath puffing out in steamy plumes, just walked over and retrieved what he needed from the shelves and exited just as quietly, and Zoro still thinks it's a damn good thing the cook didn't try to touch him, because he probably would've broken the blond's wrist.

Luffy had eyed him very cautiously that evening, as though unsure whether he should offer to spend the night on the floor or possibly in the other room, but after a few minutes of his first mate glaring at the ceiling and waiting silently but expectantly, he'd finally crept into bed and they'd fallen asleep curled around each other as usual.

The older pirate had jolted awake close to dawn, when the sky outside had just started to brighten, bedclothes drenched with sweat and jaw aching from clenching and grinding his teeth to hold back the cry of panic threatening to burst free. Somehow, he'd managed to avoid waking anyone else, but when Luffy had mumbled something unintelligible and pulled him closer, nose and lips nuzzling under his jaw, he'd gone utterly still in the arms curled around his chest and it had taken all his will power not to shove the other man away and high-tail it for the bathhouse. Or the freezer.

That was only the first in an unending series of nerve-wracking nights, because his nightmares have taken on a new and unpleasant twist.

The Chief Guard's penchant for psychological torture in addition to the physical did something to his head, broke something in there that he doesn't know how to fix. She forced too many associations between herself and his blissfully ignorant crewmate, breathing the Straw Hat captain's name in his ear at every opportunity and striving to duplicate his touch, toying with the swordsman's mind as thoroughly as his body. Pain and pleasure and sadist and lover all jumbled up into one tangled mess, and he'd been determined to ignore it, banishing the notion of sex - particularly sex with Luffy - to a cobweb-strewn corner at the deepest level of his consciousness.

And it'd been working, for the most part- until his abominably bad timing entering the bathhouse reminded him that his own strictly enforced lack of interest isn't necessarily shared by his partner, and after that realization, it's like he can't stop thinking about sweat-slicked bodies slipping and sliding and joining, and this has made sharing a bed with Luffy pure torture, because while part of Zoro wants everything they had before- before- BEFORE, he's also afraid. Afraid of the soft, lilting voice in his head. Afraid he'll find himself thinking about her during sex, maybe even calling out her name when he comes, and while the epithet would burst from his throat in protest rather than pleasure, he has no trouble picturing the shocked, hurt expression he knows his lover would try to hide on hearing it.

He's also afraid he might just start screaming and not be able to stop if Luffy makes love to him, and because he's not sure how to separate his desire from his fear, it's playing hell with his dreams.

The really, really bad shit is incredibly vivid and disturbingly erotic and leaves him horrified and disgusted with his own arousal because those dreams involve Sadi-chan and his captain: both of them taking turns and occasionally even sharing him between them, and sometimes he's still heavily pregnant and sometimes he's not, and sometimes it's just plain ordinary fucking- but other times there's the knife and the trident and they do things to him that are far worse than anything he actually experienced in Impel Down, and even though he knows the real waking world Luffy would never, ever hurt him - not intentionally, not like this - the dark dream version of the younger pirate shows no such restraint.

Watching the same gentle hands that have reverently cradled and caressed his distended belly suddenly turn traitor and tear it asunder- it's no wonder he can't meet the rubber man's eyes, and Zoro wishes he didn't know how it feels to have someone cut him open, because the actual experience makes the dream world seem too real, his tormentors' actions too difficult to pass off as figments of his overactive imagination.

He would have been more comfortable sleeping alone, but then Luffy would have wanted to know why and asked what was wrong, and he doesn't want to tell his captain what he's seen in his dreams. What he's seen- and felt- his captain do to him in the dreams. So he's bottled it up inside, concealed his distress and tried very hard not to flinch at being touched. Although, after tonight, there's no way he can keep up the charade any longer- not after waking from one of those horrible nightmares to find himself pinned under the aroused body of the same man he'd just been begging to stop pounding into him while crushing him stomach-down against a cold, familiar stone floor as the amused sadist looked on and offered encouragement and played idly with herself.

None of this is Luffy's fault, of course, because he's only done something he's done a hundred times before, and the swordsman's well aware he can't hold his lover accountable for breaking the rules when he never established post-Impel Down boundaries, but he hasn't had the heart to tell the younger pirate to keep his hands to himself. Luffy craves physical contact - needs and has always needed to touch and hold and love - and it doesn't seem right to withhold it when he's hurting too, so Zoro hasn't complained, even though it's made him increasingly uncomfortable.

But there's touching- and then there's TOUCHING, and while there's always been much more to their relationship than sex alone, the captain's proved himself an enthusiastic and surprisingly sensual partner since the beginning, fascinated with taction and taste and sound, just as interested in giving pleasure as receiving it and apt to ambush his swordsman with hungry kisses and promises of gratification when and where least expected, and until now, Zoro's never had a reason to complain.

_Maybe you should've just let him do it. At least somebody would've been getting laid_, he thinks miserably as he wanders off the Galley-La property into the city itself, not knowing where he's going and not caring as long as he keeps moving. He can't escape the steady stream of his own thoughts, but even if his mind's twisting in endless circles, at least he feels like he's getting somewhere if his feet are moving. Until now he's restricted his movements to the mansion, but it's better out here, where he's surrounded by open air and less likely to bump into his nakama with their pity and guilt-filled eyes.

He doesn't know what the hell they think they have to feel guilty about, because this whole damn mess is his fault anyway. It feels like he's made one shitty decision after another, starting with his refusal to let someone escort him back to the ship after that disastrous appointment with the doctor who-

_That asshole warned you, but you wouldn't listen, and look where you ended up. Might as well have just agreed to let him take it out then, before you went and got attached to it- to him- to-_

He stumbles on an uneven cobblestone that he doesn't see because he's momentarily blinded by tears, and it hurts like hell, because he's stubbed several toes, and it only now registers that he's forgotten his boots and is traversing the street barefoot, but he's too caught up in his thoughts to care.

If he'd ignored Luffy's orders and killed the physician before the man had the chance to report the Straw Hats' presence to the Marines. If he'd swallowed his goddamn pride and let his crewmates accompany him back to the Sunny. If he'd spent less time squabbling with the cook and paid more attention to their surroundings. If he'd been more focused during his battle with the Admirals. If he'd let Sadi remove his fingers without fighting back and pissing her off.

If he'd held on for just five or ten more minutes and ignored the Chief Guard's taunting and let her finger-fuck him to orgasm instead of impulsively summoning Asura in a last ditch effort to kill her...

She's dead but she's not gone, and while his concern for his captain's child initially kept her presence at bay, now he just feels cold and empty and haunted.

He's passing dark windows in what's obviously a residential area, when his ears catch the unexpected and unwelcome wail of a baby as it starts crying in one of the apartments above, and the sound startles him so badly that he nearly plows face-first into the light pole he's passing, eye studying the building beside him in an unconscious search for the squalling's origin. While the remorse is fully expected, he's caught completely off-guard by the pang of pure longing that lances through his chest, shortening his breath and sending his stomach into cart-wheeling nausea.

That horrible fluttering sensation reminds him so strongly of something kicking and twisting inside his belly that he's stumbling towards the canal before he's aware he's moving, wrapping both arms tightly around his middle as he drops to his knees and vomits bile into the water below, his abdominal muscles straining forcefully enough to make him continue retching even after he's got nothing left to throw up.

_Ungh- at least it's the middle of the night-_ He muses weakly, gasping for air and shuddering when every movement, no matter how minuscule, sends pain flashing across his healing incision._ There's nobody around to watch you puke your guts out in the middle of the street..._

Granted, even if there was somebody watching from a nearby doorway or window, they've probably just mistaken him for some dumb bastard who couldn't handle his alcohol. But he isn't drunk, although he's starting to wish he-

_Don't even think about it. Last time you tried that, you fucked up a bunch of shit. Didn't kill anybody, thank god, but they still didn't fix all the holes you punched in the wall, and Chopper had to treat your fingers again- or what's left of 'em, anyway.  
_

He wipes sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, grimacing.

_Tch, you're an idiot, letting yourself get caught off-guard like that just 'cause you heard a- just 'cause you heard somebody crying. This is a city, with people living in it, dumb-ass; are you really that surprised some of them have kids?  
_

There's a fountain nearby - one of those ridiculous ornamental pieces that would normally send the shitty cook into poetic rapture in response to the intricately carved quartet of huge-breasted mermaids flaunting their sea shell-studded and barely concealed endowments, but it's got running water, which is all the swordsman gives a shit about - and he limps his way over to splash his face and rinse the foul taste from his mouth.

He's standing there with his eye closed, clutching the edge of the bowl and still struggling to catch his breath and thinking that someone must have seen to the infant because the crying stopped - _good, 'cause that sound was making me crazy_ - sometime while he was busy emptying his stomach of its meager contents, when he becomes acutely aware that the circulating water sounds like babbling laughter. Whose, he isn't sure; one moment his disconcerted mind mistakes it for children giggling at hastily murmured secrets and the next he swears it sounds like a woman's teasing voice. Either way, he's suddenly dry heaving again, clamping down on the fountain's rim so forcefully that it cracks under the pressure, spilling his torso into the basin. Water sprays into his good eye, momentarily blinding him, and when he staggers upright, pawing sluggishly at his face, he's face-to-face with one of the god-awful stone mermaids.

The thing's all flowing hair and full, pouting lips and that damnable laughter's ringing in his ears, and he reacts without thinking, slamming a fist into the leering smile.

The stone's incredibly hard but Zoro's fear and anger lends him strength, and in the end, it's a draw; the carving cracks, obliterated by the blow, but he's forced to bite his tongue to hold back a strangled cry of dismay, because he's punched the fountain with his right hand, and the impact's split the healing flesh beneath the cauterized ovals where his fingers used to be, and they're still tender from knocking plaster off the walls and it fucking hurts.

The pain helps drive the confusion from his head. It's just a stupid, overly gaudy fountain again, now spilling water around his bare feet as he backs away, clutching his aching hand. The blood dripping from his damaged skin looks black in the moonlight and somewhat surreal, as though he's spilled a bucket of pitch on himself, but the pain tells him he's not dreaming.

_Water Seven. You're standing on the sidewalk in Water Seven, and you just killed a public drinking fountain._

A small noise escapes him that sounds suspiciously like a giggle and he bites his tongue hard enough to taste copper, reining in his hysteria before it can burst out of him in peals of neurotic laughter.

_Get a grip, shithead, before you crack up and wake the whole damn neighborhood! If you didn't already, that is.  
_

It's time to get moving again. He casts a regretful eye over the demolished fountain and the small river that's been formed by the water running across the cobblestones and down into the canal, thinking that he really needs to stop doing shit like this before Iceburg gets fed up with him breaking things and decides to give the crew the boot before Sunny's fully repaired.

Thinking of the ship, he's struck by the sudden urge to go to it and decides on the spot that he'll spend the night there, because there's no way in hell he's going back to the mansion, not after trying to strangle his captain and then running away like a dog with his tail between his legs, and it's a measure of how disconnected his head feels from his body that he actually finds the place where Sunny's docked within a few minutes.

_The shitty cook oughta love that_, he thinks moodily as he stands studying the moon's reflection shivering on the dark water and listening to the creaking timbers and snapping sails of the vessels tied and anchored in the harbor. _He's always askin' what the hell it would take for me to develop a decent sense of direction, and I guess we've got our answer now, don't we? Simple, really- take away everything that means anything, and I suddenly know exactly where I am, even if I don't know where I wanna go._

But that's not quite true, because even though he's found the dock and the ship, he's still lost inside his own head and he's stunned to realize that he doesn't know where he belongs for the first time since he agreed to become a pirate and follow the skinny, black-haired kid with the huge grin who's since become far more to him than he ever expected: captain, sparring partner, best friend, lover, father of his-

For a long time, the younger pirate's been everything important to him, but now it feels as though they've lost everything. The baby, their crew's camaraderie- and now each other. Zoro hasn't been able to look Luffy in the face for days, and tonight- tonight-

In his struggle to protect his captain's child, he's given up everything - his swords, his dreams, his own body - and while he doesn't- he can't- regret it, because they've been willing sacrifices, and he knows he'd do it all over again, for just one more glimpse of his son's face, all his efforts have been for nothing. For a little while, he thought Luffy's presence might at least salvage a little of his sanity, give him something concrete to cling to while he tries to collect the scattered fragments of his heart, which feels as though it's shattered just as neatly as Wado, but the nightmares put an end to that and he's never felt so alone.

He's been skirting around the issue for days, but tonight's finally clinched it-

_I can't do this anymore. I've had enough._

Admitting this hurts tremendously, but it's also a relief. No more struggling to hold it together so Luffy doesn't see the panic on his face when the younger pirate hugs him. No more spending the night staring wide-eyed at the wall and summoning numb static inside his head to tune out his captain's sleepy voice mumbling in his ear. No more remembering the sight of those tiny, tiny fists dwarfed by his own large, calloused hands when Luffy reaches out to touch his arm, squeezing gently and comfortingly and entirely unaware of Zoro's internal struggle as the swordsman tries not to shrink from his touch.

He closes his eyes, taking a deep shuddering breath and blocking out everything but the sound of the ocean.

_You don't have to stay here. It'd be so easy to leave- just catch a ride on the next ship setting sail, and leave this all behind. Start over somewhere else, where you don't have to look at his face every day and wonder if your son would've had his smile._

Not that Luffy, or anyone else for that matter, is smiling much these days, but that doesn't stop his brain from fantasizing about his- about their- child and imagining exactly which of his and the captain's combined traits might've shone through as their little boy started crawling, taking his first steps- and oh god, it hurts thinking about something he'll never know and never see.

He can feel his heart picking up speed in his chest as he listens to the waves breaking against Sunny's hull and contemplates leaving everything behind.

So easy, to just get on a ship and go. He could do it tonight.

_Oh yeah?_ A sarcastic snort somewhere in the back of his head, and while he didn't talk to himself in Impel Down for fear of losing his mind, he's pretty sure it doesn't matter at this point. And there's no baby to confide in this time, anyway; he's truly and utterly alone. _Where the hell you think you're gonna go?_

_Anywhere. Anywhere but here. I don't care, as long as it's somewhere I don't have to think about-_ His fingertips slide down his front, over the soft pouch that his stomach's become, and even though he can't feel the sutures through the layers of his shirt and pants, he knows the exact path they make across his abdomen._ Somewhere I don't have to think about what might've been, or anything that's happened over the past few months._

_Last few months? Ha, what about the last few YEARS, Roronoa? Or do you honestly think you can handle remembering everything you've been through with this crew- everything you've been through with its captain- without remembering all of it, the good and the bad?_

_Fine_, he scowls, forcing his hand down to his side when he realizes that he's been aimlessly caressing the tender flesh of his lower belly. _Somewhere I don't have to think about the last few-_

_You think you can really do it? Move on and forget your nakama just like that? Forget LUFFY just like that, after you were ready to die for him? After you spent the last two years training for his sake and lost an eye in the process? After you agreed to carry his child- your captain's baby- to term even though you didn't really want to?_

_I kept throwing up all the time and everybody kept joking about Akuma no Mi and aliens and shit, and- yeah, okay, I didn't really want to do it at first- just agreed to it 'cause it was what he wanted, but I-I changed my mind! It didn't seem like such a big deal in the beginning, because it didn't seem REAL, but after a while my pants didn't fit right anymore and then it wasn't long 'til I hadda start wearing the coat to hide the way my gut kept getting bigger, and when we both felt him moving that first time, Sencho was so happy, and I-_

_You think he's gonna be happy if you leave?_

He doesn't respond to this, clenching his jaw and clutching the helm so tightly that he's forced to let go for fear of snapping the wheel.

_Thought so. And wherever this imaginary destination might be, with no crew and no Luffy and no memories- good or bad or otherwise- you wanna tell me how you're gonna get there?_

_On a ship-? Did you not hear me the first time or are you just that fucking stupid?_

He's vaguely aware that he's standing there on the Sunny's bow, holding a heated dispute inside his own head and asking himself if he's stupid, and the whole thing's a bit sad, but he knows things haven't been quite right inside his skull since Impel Down. A lot of things haven't been quite right since Impel Down.

_On a ship. Of course. So tell me- which ship?_ The voice asks, sounding amused. _Most of 'em are too big for one person to handle, and you suck at sailing anyway, so I wouldn't bother trying to steal a ride. And you can forget buying passage on one; as usual, you're broke - hell, you probably still owe the navigator money, although she might be persuaded to lift your debt if you threaten to kill her again - and you've got nothing to your name but a few busted swords. Hell, you can't even say you've got the clothes on your back, 'cause they're not yours._

_So I'll work for it- lift anchors, mop decks and stuff like that. I've done it before and I can do it aga-_

_Oi, Roronoa, who the hell's gonna hire you? You taken a look at yourself lately? Not only are you seriously outta shape, but anybody dumb enough to take you on is gonna throw you overboard the first time you try to break some guy's neck because the poor bastard slapped you on the back._

_I bet Law would've-_ Zoro hesitates, finally recognizing that sarcastic tone as a combination of his own voice and the Heart captain's blunt drawl. _What the hell are YOU doing in my head?_

_You might not like Trafalgar, but you respect him and you know he won't bullshit you. He didn't do it when he told you about the baby, and he won't do it now. Although, I, err, assume you understand that he's not really in here and you're just having this conversation with yourself-?_

"Well, duh," the swordsman mutters. "I'd like to think I'm not THAT far gone."

_Except now you're talking to yourself out loud, man._

"Whatever- it's less confusing that way."

_Suit yourself. Anyway, Law's already gone, and nobody's gonna give you the chance to get thrown off their ship unless you lose that flabby beer gut._

"It's not-"

_I know that, and you know that, but anybody looking to hire you isn't gonna have a clue, and I'd strongly suggest you avoid enlightening 'em._

"I'm not stupid."

_Never said you were,_ the voice tells him soothingly. _You're confused, and you're hurting, but you're not stupid. And I'm glad you're not thinking about DOING something stupid like drowning yourself or eating what's left of Wado._

"Can't say the thought didn't cross my mind, but it's-" Zoro's brow wrinkles slightly as he tries to find the right words. "It'd be too easy, offing myself and making L-Luffy deal with losing both of us. Besides, this is all my fault anyway- why should I dodge the blame by making everything go away?"

Speaking his captain's name, even to himself, hurts far more than he expected.

_He's going to lose you both anyway, you know, if you're serious about leaving. Why don't you just go back to Galley-La and explain-_

"Fuck that! I'm not- I can't-" He abandons the helm, running both hands through his hair as he paces the deck.

_Alright, Roronoa, NOW you're being stupid. I know that bitch screwed with your head pretty good, but what do you really think Mugiwara's gonna do if you turn around and go back right this second? Do you honestly think he's gonna rip your clothes off, bend you over the nearest table and fuck-_

"SHUT UP- JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"

_Oi, okay, okay, settle down before you give yourself an aneurysm. Or pop one. Whatever. Look, I won't talk about Mugiwara f-_

In desperation, Zoro slams the heel of one hand into the side of his head to silence the voice- and then he freezes, aware that he's just crossed a very distinct line.

_You okay there?_

"Jeez, I really am going fucking crazy," the swordsman breathes, burying his face in his hands.

_And no wonder- you're exhausted. You need to sleep._

"Dunno if I can. Those goddamn dreams..."

But after wandering the ship for ten or fifteen more minutes, he eventually dozes off while he's sitting in the crows nest, staring again at the moon's reflection in the water below, and when Franky and Usopp's voices wake him when they come aboard in the morning, he realizes that he's slept through the night without interruption. No dreams, no waking up lathered in sweat and biting his tongue to hold back the screams, and he feels more clear-headed than he has for days.

It's also the first night he's spent without Luffy tucked against his back, and it doesn't take him long to make the connection. No captain, no nightmares.

_"You taken a look at yourself lately?"_

_"-nobody's gonna give you the chance to get thrown off their ship unless you lose that flabby beer gut."_

He drags his barbells down from the gym that afternoon, despite Chopper's protests, and spends the rest of the day struggling to re-tone himself.

xxx

"Luffy- you need to do something."

"Why?"

"What the hell do you mean WHY? He's down there all the time now, and when he's not staring at the ships leaving the harbor, he's popping his stitches lifting those goddamn weights. Chopper keeps patching him up and telling him to slow down, but he just grunts and mutters something about getting ready. He makes it sound like we're leaving soon, and Nami-san wants to know-"

"Not us."

"What do you-"

"Not us," the captain says again softly, and when he turns his head towards Sanji, he's smiling sadly, but the despair and longing in his eyes tell a different story, and that look turns the cook's heart into a leaden lump in his chest because he knows that Luffy's about to verify everything he feared. "-just Zoro."


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note: People can only bend so far before they break, and despite their stubbornness and tenacity, the Straw Hats are no exception.

xxx

_"-need to leave him alone, Sanji."_

_"Are you even listening to a goddamn word coming out of your own mouth? You can't possibly-!"_

_"If I try to make Zoro stay, he's just gonna leave now, and Chopper says he's not healing like he should 'cause he's pushing himself too hard. I don't want-" Luffy makes a low noise of frustration and resumes pacing back and forth across the balcony, neck and shoulders rigid with tension. "I don't want Zoro getting hurt or killed 'cause I chased him away before he could get better."_

_"Get better? Who the fuck are you kidding, Luffy? He's not going to get better, not by slinging those bloody weights around- and not by pulling this lone swordsman shit either! I don't know what the hell that idiot thinks he's doing or where he thinks he's gonna go, but he doesn't belong OUT THERE," the cook argues, flinging out one arm to indicate the horizon before them. "He belongs HERE, with you, with me, with the whole goddamn crew!"_

_The captain shakes his head, and Sanji utters a growl of exasperation. "Can you honestly, for one second, tell me that you actually want him to-?"  
_

_"It's not about what I want!" The younger pirate snaps, his eyes flashing dangerously as he whirls to glare at Sanji, but in the next moment, his shoulders sag in defeat and he turns away to rest both hands on the railing. "What I want doesn't matter as long as Zoro's happy, even if that means he needs to be- needs to be somewhere else instead of here with me."_

_The blond doesn't know how to respond to this, and for several minutes they stand in uncomfortable silence, until-  
_

_"Sanji-?"_

_He realizes the rubber man is trembling, fingers shaking where they're gripping the wrought iron, and when Luffy glances back over his shoulder, his expression is twisted with misery and tears are pouring down his cheeks and his nose is running steadily as well._

_"Sanji- what am I s-supposed to do without him? Wh-What am I supposed to do without Zoro?"_

_It's not a question for which Sanji has an answer, and the cook doesn't know what to do for his captain other than to reach out and drag him into a tight embrace, holding on stubbornly when the younger man makes a low noise of distress and tries to push him away, until Luffy finally stops fighting to escape and starts clinging to him with both fists bunched in his shirt, forehead smashed against his collarbone as he endeavors - unsuccessfully - to muffle the harsh braying sobs escaping his throat.  
_

xxx

Gathered around Iceburg's long banquet table for yet another awkward meal entirely devoid of even menial conversation, the Straw Hats pick listlessly at food that turns to ashes in their mouths, most of them trying to avoid meeting the eye of the swordsman who's taken a seat that leaves several open chairs between him and them.

It's not difficult; Zoro's gaze is fixed on the food he's bolting down almost faster than he can chew it, intent on finishing his meal as quickly as possible before heading back to the docks to resume his endless drills. He's been spending day and night on the Sunny, determined to take full advantage of the gym and its equipment before he's forced to leave it behind, only returning to the mansion when it becomes absolutely necessary to refuel his aching body or to hit the bathhouse for a quick shower since Franky's still working on Sunny's plumbing.

He doesn't know what they'll do with the larger dumbbells after he's gone, considering no one else but the shipwright's ever been able to shift them more than a few feet, but in a short while that won't be his problem anymore and they can dump the damn things in the harbor or donate them to the Galley-La shipyard to melt down as scrap metal for all he cares.

Kitetsu and Shuusui and the remains of Wado will be coming with him, of course, but he plans to travel light because despite the length of time he's spent as a pirate, he's accumulated very little in the way of personal effects. Everyone else has always filled the ship with their own junk: the cook's kitchenware and his extensive wardrobe of fine-cut clothing, Usopp and Franky's half-finished gadgets, Robin's books, Nami's maps and odd bits of treasure she deems too precious to trade, Chopper's medical texts and infirmary equipment, Luffy's collection of interestingly shaped sea shells and other random shit he's collected during their travels. But even before the fire, Zoro's locker was empty except for a few thread-worn shirts, a haramaki or two and his katana maintenance kit.

_Not that it'll do me any good with Wado in pieces and Shuusui bent like a fucking boomerang._

He's concentrating so intensely on inhaling his dinner, barely tasting it, that he doesn't feel the two sets of eyes burning holes into him as the captain stares blankly in his direction and absentmindedly pushes his food around on his plate while Sanji glares across the table at them both, angry and frustrated and seriously contemplating just grabbing them both by the hair and smashing their heads together because this whole thing's just so-

_If you'd just look at each other, goddamn you- can't you see what you're doing to yourselves? What you're doing to the rest of us?_

Rather than serving, the cook sits with the crew as he's done for the past three weeks, because his own thick blanket of depression has rendered him incapable of preparing anything edible for the nakama that he's grown so accustomed to feeding. He had initially attempted to continue business as usual when they arrived at Water Seven, but after days of watching Luffy push away half-filled plates, he finally kicked in an oven and frightened the kitchen assistants so badly that Paulie took him aside and told him that the Galley-La employees would handle things from then on.

He finds he doesn't really care; he's lost any interest in showering the girls with culinary delights, because perfectly arranged platters and artistically designed desserts don't mean shit when the first mate's on the verge of permanently ducking out and the captain's showing no signs of stopping him.

_We're falling apart, Luffy- don't you understand? You let HIM go, and what's going to hold the rest of them here? If HE leaves, it's only a matter of time before-_

"-or shall I pass it to someone else?"

"Hmm?" He blinks dumbly at the salad bowl under his nose, then at the woman holding it. "Ah, Robin-chan. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Cook-san."

_She's calling everyone by their old names again- the ones she used before we rescued her from Enies Lobby..._

Sanji's not entirely sure what it means, but he knows it's not a good sign.

_The sooner today's over, the better._

No one's mentioned it, but he's sure his crewmates are equally and painfully aware of the day's importance, because although Chopper promised Zoro he'd do his best to perform the laparotomy around thirty-nine weeks of gestation, explaining that the pregnancy would be advanced enough at that point to ensure the baby would be born fully developed and unlikely to suffer complications from premature delivery, the doctor had also given the swordsman a due date based on actual childbirth averages.

It's difficult to say how much the older pirate's affected by the knowledge that today would have marked his son's arrival, given his refusal to speak more than one or two words at a time to any of the them, but there's a stiffness to his demeanor that makes the cook think their first mate - he refuses to consider the man as anything else when he's still taking meals with the crew - is set to explode like one of Usopp's Gunpowder Stars.

Luffy, on the other hand, spent the afternoon wavering between despondency and severe agitation, alternately barricading himself in their empty rooms and stalking the hallways with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, fingers clenching and unclenching as he snapped at anyone who let their gaze linger on him for too long. Even now, he's quiet and withdrawn and hasn't touched more than a bite or two of his food. The rubber man, who's normally notorious for his poor memory, doesn't have any trouble whatsoever remembering what was supposed to happen today, and Sanji knows that somewhere on the Sunny, there's a calendar page with today's date circled repeatedly in Nami's mapping ink and marked with a badly drawn smiley face and fat exclamation points.

_"Just 'cause Chopper threw that date at us doesn't mean it's gonna be the kid's birthday. I sure as hell don't wanna wait that long- I'd like to see my goddamn feet again sooner rather than later."_

_"Shishishi! Zoro's so impatient."_

_"Damn it, Luffy, look what you- Nami's gonna wring your neck for wasting her ink. You made a frickin' mess, even got it on your FACE for fuck's sake. C'mere and lemme- oi, now what's so funny?"_

_"Nee hee, look, Zoro's got it smeared on his belly."_

_"Shit! Here, take your stupid calendar and get the hell out of here so I can take a nap before your brat wakes up and starts kicking the crap out of me again."  
_

The blond nudges his barely touched plate away, knowing he's completely lost his appetite.

He's leaning back in his chair with his eyes shut, listening to the clicking and clacking of Zoro's fork as the swordsman impales potato wedges with ruthless efficiency and the faint rustling that betrays his crewmates' movements as they shift uncomfortably in their chairs, and he's wondering if every one of them - himself included - is going slowly but inevitably mad, when someone finally breaks the silence by clearing his throat apologetically.

"O-Oi, Luffy?"

"... hmn?"

"Today's- well, I know today's pretty important, and-"

Sanji's eyes immediately pop open.

_What the hell does that idiot Long-nose think he's-?_

"I-I've got something for you. I was planning on giving it to you a-after, for the- but now you won't be able to-" Usopp takes a deep breath, blinking furiously as his eyes begin to sting. "I-It got damaged in the fire and I thought it got thrown out, but I found it again when I was digging through my locker after you asked me to repaint the Jolly Roger, so I saved it- and-"

The sniper, face painfully scrunched as he fights to keep his composure, wipes the moisture from his cheeks with his forearm. He withdraws a small wooden object from the pocket of his overalls, offering it hesitantly to the nonplussed captain. "I don't know what you'll do with it. B-But I still want you to have this. It's- well, I guess I don't need to tell you why I made this and not an animal or a- a rattle or something."

"Oh," Nami says very quietly, the first tears escaping unnoticed down her own cheeks as she bunches the tablecloth between her fingers. And then even more softly. "Oh."

Luffy accepts the carving in trembling hands, his voice failing him the first time he opens his mouth to speak. He clears his throat and tries again. "Usopp... th-thank-"

"What the FUCK is THAT?"

The rubber man staggers, nearly biting his tongue and unable to finish expressing his choked gratitude as Zoro, who's risen from his chair while they were talking, lunges across the empty seats to claim the object that they're all staring at with slightly widened eyes and nearly knocks him off his feet in the process. Mouth set in a firm line, the swordsman stares down at the slightly blackened toy sword - a dagger, really, only five or six inches from rounded hilt to blunt tip - that he's ripped from the captain's hands, color draining from his face until his crewmates are convinced he's going to faint, but then he grips either end and raises his knee, his teeth clenching in a horrible grimace as he swings his arms down.

"No, don't!" Luffy shrieks, leaping forward to intercept him. Their impact sends the wooden trinket spinning end over end across the tabletop, bouncing off plates and silverware, and the younger pirate is scrambling to intercept it when Zoro's fist collides with his jaw, snapping his head back and sending dishes flying when the blow sends him careening into the table hard enough to move its heavy frame several inches across the floor.

In the stunned silence that follows, Robin brushes stray lettuce leaves from her lap, and then the room erupts into chaos as everyone starts shouting at once.

"SHIT!"

"Somebody, grab him before he-!"

But the green-haired pirate's stalking away from his opponent, not towards him, eyes fixed on the sword where it's come to rest between Brook's water glass and the bread basket.

"Leave it alone!" Luffy barks, his order backed by just enough Haki to make those nearest wince and clutch at their heads, but Zoro doesn't so much as glance back at him. Wiping blood from his mouth, his eyes narrowing, the captain snatches for the swordsman's collar and knots his fingers in the fabric at the older pirate's throat, pulling him off balance as he yanks him around so they're glaring at each other face-to-face. "I said LEAVE IT ALONE!"

"Don't touch me!"

"Usopp gave it to me- it's mine, and I don't care if Zoro doesn't want it, but he's not gonna break it!"

"What the hell are you getting so goddamn worked up about-?" He growls back, prying at the fist knotted under his chin and cursing when he can't break the iron grip. "It's just a fucking piece of wood he hacked up with a bloody pocketknife! It doesn't mean anything!"

Usopp flinches, and a snarl of outrage bursts from the Straw Hat captain.

"Oi, that's enough!" Sanji shouts, but they're not listening, and following a sharp word from Chopper, Franky holds the cook down when he tries to rise from his chair and break up the fight despite his still-healing ribs. The blond struggles, unleashing a torrent of verbal abuse on the cyborg, but the shipwright refuses to let go because their nakama's liable to get himself seriously injured trying to step between the feuding pair when his body still hasn't fully recovered from Akainu's punch.

"If it doesn't mean anything, then why's Zoro wanna break it?" Luffy spits venomously, narrowly dodging a vicious head butt that's aimed at his face. "Zoro's a shitty liar!"

"Get your fucking hands off me," Zoro snarls, abandoning his attempts to pry the younger pirate's fingers loose and shifting his hold to tightly grip Luffy's forearm with both hands, bearing down on it so forcefully that only the rubber man's unique constitution keeps his bones from snapping like dry kindling. The pressure tears open the healing flesh on the stumps of his truncated fingers and paints his crewmate's bare arm with smears of blood, but the pain doesn't deter the older pirate. "You don't understand-"

"ZORO ISN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO LOST SOMETHING!" The captain screams in the swordsman's face, shaking him by the collar so violently that several bright blotches of crimson bloom through his shirt and haramaki as a few of the stitches in his abdomen give way, but when Chopper rushes them in Heavy Point, struggling desperately to pull them apart before they compound the damage already done, he can't budge either man.

"WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW?"

"HE WASN'T JUST ZORO'S- HE WAS MINE TOO!"

"Oh my god, Luffy, Zoro, please- please just stop," Nami groans through the fingers clutched over her mouth, stumbling backwards until her back bumps into the wall and she slides to the floor covering her face with both hands, and then Robin is beside her, wrapping a supportive arm around the navigator's quaking shoulders.

"Guys, c'mon, don't do this-"

"Franky, let go of me, goddamn it, before they fucking kill each other!"

"Oi, Mugiwara, don't-"

Ignoring his crew's panic, blood dripping from his mouth and nostrils, the captain slowly overpowers the older pirate, forcing him to his knees. "He was my son too, and he was-"

He dodges an awkward kick aimed at his head, loathing every moment of this and feeling as though he's caught a tiger by the tail, because Zoro's BLEEDING, AGAIN, and it's his fault, AGAIN, but he's afraid to let go now. As soon as he lets go, Zoro will probably either run away again - this time for good - or try to kill him, and part of him feels like he deserves to die for being the cause of the pain and confusion and suffering evident under the anger on his lover's - _no, I can't call him that anymore, even though I do love him, because it hurts too much, but I don't know if I can call him my swordsman anymore either or even my nakama, because he doesn't want me anymore and Zoro's not MINE anymore and oh god I hate this, I hate it so much_ - on the other man's face.

"Luffy, he's going to rupture more stitches," Chopper warns, hauling on the younger pirate's sleeve, and the rubber man shrugs away from the doctor without looking at him, dragging the snarling, struggling swordsman with him as he moves down the table to retrieve the wooden sword.

"O-Oi, wh-what are you going to do with that?" Usopp asks nervously, convinced for just a moment that Luffy is actually going to stab either Zoro or himself or possibly first one and then the other, but the captain just stuffs the toy into the waistband of his shorts for safe-keeping and releases his grip on the swordsman's shirt.

Ignoring the blood seeping down the front of his trousers and dripping to the floor below, the older pirate reaches out to catch the hem of Luffy's vest, wrestling with the hands preventing him from seizing the object they're fighting over. "Give it to me!"

"No, because Zoro's just gonna break it. And it's the only thing I have to remember Ace." A solitary tear rolls down his cheek, hanging suspended from his chin for a moment before falling to dampen the swordsman's shirt.

Zoro flinches at the captain's use of their son's name, his pupils constricting until they're barely visible and his face going deathly white as he sways slightly on his knees, fingers frozen where they're groping for possession of the sniper's gift, the very sight of which made something inside his head snap back into sharp, painful focus as soon as he saw it cradled in Luffy's hands with the same reverence and tenderness that he remembers the younger pirate showing while holding their stillborn child.

"Careful, Sencho," Robin murmurs softly from where she's sitting on the floor beside Nami, stroking the navigator's hair as the younger girl cries against her shoulder and well aware that whatever the captain says next will determine whether or not the situation ends in more bloodshed and tears.

"He had a name, and he had people who loved him and-" Luffy takes a deep breath, swallowing the whimper caught in his throat, and he's crying steadily now. "I can't make myself forget him, Zoro- I tried at first, but it felt all wrong and Ace didn't do anything to deserve it. So I can't- I can't do it, Zoro. I can't forget OUR BABY."

The raw emotion in the younger pirate's voice sounds capable of drawing tears from a stone, and as desperately as the swordsman's tried to harden his heart, it's still very much flesh and blood and now beating at a painfully rapid rate inside him. Zoro's chest hitches once with a silent sob as color rushes back into his face, and moisture wells unbidden in his single eye, like the first drops of rain before a heavy downpour, and then it overflows and spills down the side of his face. He throws his arms around Luffy's waist and shoves his face against the captain's stomach, muffling the wail of misery escaping from his throat.

The younger pirate stumbles, sits down hard and bites his tongue, but he barely notices because the older pirate's clinging to him, shoulders heaving as he truly grieves for the first time since he woke up and learned that he'd failed to protect their offspring- failed to protect ACE. He cries for the baby, for his partner, for himself, for the crew, and he cries for everything that's been lost and sacrificed and wrenched from their grasp.

"Finally," Sanji breathes, running a shaking hand through his hair and exchanging a helpless glance with Usopp, who looks as though he doesn't know whether to be horrified or relieved that his simple gesture's unintentionally breached the walls they've watched their nakama constructing around themselves.

Seated on the floor with the swordsman bawling against his chest, Luffy raises grief-stricken imploring eyes to his crew, his mouth twisting as he struggles to voice the one thing that they've all requested of him at one time or another but that he's never asked for himself, neither he nor Zoro.

"Please-" He swallows hard, tears pouring down his cheeks. "Help?"

It's barely a whisper, but the Straw Hats move as one.

Sanji reaches them first, ignoring the stubborn ache in his ribcage as he kneels to enfold his nakama in a tight embrace, wrapping one arm around Zoro's shoulders and squeezing tightly, and somewhat to his surprise, the green-haired pirate doesn't push him away but turns his flushed, tear-streaked face towards the cook and although he's sobbing too hard to speak, there's gratitude and respect in his watery eye.

Chopper, no longer in Heavy Point, crawls into their laps, also crying steadily and pausing frequently to hug all three of them as he works to staunch the swordsman's bleeding. Usopp joins them, and Nami and Robin and Franky and Brook, until the entire crew's gathered in a tightly intertwined huddle with Zoro and their captain tucked securely in the center, flanked on all sides by warm bodies, and it's not long before they're all shedding plentiful tears, mourning the loss that's deeply affected every single one of them.

When a worried Iceburg and Paulie enter the room to find out why the kitchen staff is hovering outside the dining hall, fidgeting and murmuring nervously to each other, the Galley-La's president and vice president take one look at the crewmembers huddled on the floor and immediately back out, closing the door quietly behind them and warning the mansion's employees to leave their guests undisturbed.


	19. Epilogue

Author's note: Alternate ending will be posted Thursday and closing remarks sometime after that.

xxx

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah- Franky says Sunny's finally ready, so it's about time we got going," Luffy says softly as he stands beside Iceburg and kneads his hat's brim where he's clutching it to his chest with both hands, his eyes fixed on the swordsman standing further down the dock, surrounded by the remaining crew and talking quietly with Sanji and Robin as a sniffling Chopper hugs his leg.

The Straw Hat captain looks exceptionally tired this morning, red-eyed and pale-faced with exaggerated shadows under his eyes, and his nakama don't appear much better, but thankfully they seem to have lost most of the tension that's been eating at them since their arrival.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait another day? I don't mean to be rude, Luffy-san, but you look-"

"Nah, s'okay." Luffy smiles wearily. "Nobody got much sleep last night, 'cause we all stayed up talking about- well, all kinds of stuff."

_The baby, Impel Down, me and Zoro, where we're going from here- and where we're not.  
_

"Ice-ossan's been really great, giving us somewhere to stay, but we don't belong here and if that Smokey-guy's really gonna show up like people are saying, I wanna be gone before he gets here." His expression turns slightly wry. "B'sides, Nami says we already owe Ice-ossan a lot of money, and we'll probably end up breaking more stuff if the Marines show up while we're still here."

The Galley-La president waves a hand in dismissal, and Paulie snorts. "Forget it, Mugiwara- we can patch holes and buy new dishes, although I think your swordsman did a goddamn civic service destroying that horrible-"

"Yes, yes, we all know how you felt about the fountain, but now's not the time."

"Oi, Luffy! Nami-san says we need to get going if we're gonna catch the tide."

"Ah, I gotta go." The rubber man dons his hat and throws his arms around the mayor's waist in a tight hug. "Thanks again, for everything."

He breaks away before Iceburg can return the embrace and flashes the older man a faint grin that's a poor imitation of his usual sunny expression, but a grin nonetheless, as he hurries towards the group waiting next to the ship.

"Any time, Luffy-san. Just take care of yourself, alright?"

But his admonishment goes unheard, because Luffy's reached his crew, and the captain slows and then comes to a stop before Zoro, heart pounding painfully in his chest as he studies the swordsman's face. There's so much he wants to say, but his throat's suddenly too tight to let the words out and he can't do more than shuffle his feet a bit as the others gather around them.

The older pirate shifts the box containing Wado and Shuusui that's tucked securely under his arm, his free hand resting lightly on Kitetsu's hilt where the sword's strapped to his side, and while his damaged extremity looks awkward in the glove encasing it, there's no mistaking the determination in his eye despite its slightly puffy lids. "Luffy."

"Zoro..." There's so much emotion in his voice that the others look away, some of them momentarily overwhelmed by tears despite the previous night's catharsis, when they'd cried themselves dry.

"Better get going, before those damn Marines show up," the green-haired man chides gently, but he doesn't move, caught in that honest gaze, and when he swallows, they all hear the click in his throat. "I-I bet Smoker's just itching to get his hands on you."

"Zoro-"

"Oh, for the love of-" Sanji stomps forward and yanks the case from Zoro's grasp, spinning and shoving it into Franky's arms so unexpectedly that the watery-eyed cyborg nearly drops it. "Will you two quit making eyes at each other and just get on the goddamn ship already?"

"Oi, be careful with that!" The swordsman demands, although he sounds more relieved than angry because he's now free to hold the younger pirate who's just thrown himself into his arms and wrapped stretchy limbs securely around his neck and torso and waist. "Ow! Damn it, Luffy, be careful! I don't wanna spend the first night stuck in the fucking infirmary because you busted my freakin' stitches again!"

"I don't care where Zoro spends the night," the rubber man mumbles against his ear, squeezing tightly enough to make him grunt. "-as long as I'm right there with him."

xxx

Seated between his fellow Admirals and ignoring the smirking idiot on his right and the faint snores coming from the left - he'll be damned if he's going to elbow Aokiji in the side one more time, and if the lanky Hie Hie no Mi user receives a reprimand from their superiors, it'll be his own bloody fault - Akainu adjusts his arms where they're crossed over his chest and wonders why the hell no one listened to him in the first place as his superiors discuss the now-defunct Impel Down, the Straw Hats and the Revolutionary Army.

_I swear everything moves at a snail's pace around here- it's been over a month since Dragon's son destroyed the prison they swore he'd never reach, and these old men are only now-_

"Oooh, did you hear the news?" Kizaru grins blithely, and his more muscular colleague clenches his teeth with long-suffering patience.

"No, but I'm sure you plan to enlighten me."

As he expects, the other man is undeterred by the sarcasm in his voice.

"Word is-" He glances about to see if any of the Gorosei are listening, but the five elders are deep in conversation with Kong on the other side of the room. "-that when Commodore Smoker-"

"Man can't follow orders," Aokiji mutters, lifting his padded mask to blink at them sleepily. "I told him he was supposed to stay put at G-5 until he received a new assignment, but he skipped town and headed straight back over the Red Line as soon as he heard the rumors that Mugiwara'd been spotted on Water Seven. Took that near-sighted swordswoman with him too- rumor has it she's still after the Pirate Hunter, although I have no idea what she'll do with him if Sakazuki here really broke all his katana. Guess she might be pretty surprised at what she finds."

"Oooh, it's rude to interrupt. Anyway, the mayor told the Commodore that the Mugiwara pirates HAD indeed shown up and demanded that the Galley-La Company repair their ship, but he refused and his shipwrights ran them off the island. He supposedly has no idea where they went, but he claims it's entirely possible that they might've wrecked- apparently their brig sloop was in quite a state." He looks pointedly at Akainu, who stares back impassively. "Seems they were also rather distressed and fighting amongst themselves- something about a death in the crew, although Iceburg assured Smoker that he personally witnessed NINE pirates board the ship when they left."

"So Roronoa lost the brat."

"It certainly seems that way, unless they recruited another member between that rock where we picked up the swordsman and Impel Down, but they didn't waste much time."

"Gorosei don't seem too surprised. Or concerned."

"It was a one-in-a-million chance anyway, wasn't it? From what I heard, according to the last full medical report G-1 received from Impel Down before communications went down, the doctors fully expected a stillbirth and were prepared for Roronoa to spontaneously abort at any moment. Said they had no idea how he was keeping the fetus alive after their Chief Guard got a bit, ah, carried away and roughed him up. Oooh, not that it would have mattered much at that point, since the Commander-in-Chief had already received confirmation that Dragon wasn't interested, but there WAS some interest from other quarters, so the medical staff was trying to keep them both alive long enough for Vegapunk to get a good look at him."

"I hadn't heard we'd actually gotten a reply- but you're saying Dragon wasn't interested in his own grandson?" Aokiji asks curiously, cracking his eyelids open again. "Or didn't he believe that the swordsman was actually pregnant? I know I thought the whole thing was rather far-fetched until you two confirmed it."

"Oh no, I believe we made it quite clear this wasn't a practical joke- sent him photographs and fetal scans taken back when Roronoa was first incarcerated. Offered to get him blood typing test results from the fetus too, if he wanted more proof, but he told us it wasn't necessary- said he knew as well as anybody what sort of relationship his son and the swordsman shared."

"Then why-"

"I told you," Akainu growls, "-the man's a pirate. Do you really think he needs a reason?"

"Oooh, the issue was practicality, if I remember correctly. He was certainly intrigued by the possibility that his son might've fathered another D - which now seems quite likely, considering how long the thing managed to survive given the circumstances, although I suppose we'll never know for sure - but he also wanted to know exactly what we expected him to do with a baby. Said only an idiot would waste his time trying to raise a child on a ship sailing the Grand Line."

There's a moment of silence as the other men glance at each other, digesting this information, and then Aokiji says slowly, "So let me get this straight: all that effort executing this harebrained scheme and not only was it bound to fail from the beginning because Dragon never wanted what we had to offer, but we pissed Mugiwara Luffy off enough to pretty damn well obliterate Impel Down in the process of rescuing his crewmate, and then Roronoa lost his child anyway and might very well be dead himself."

"That sounds about right- although Iceburg isn't the only witness who claims to have seen the Pirate Hunter alive, so it seems very likely he survived."

"You do realize this is the second one of Mugiwara's family members to die at our hands? First his foster brother, Fire Fist Ace, and now his own blood. I'm no coward, but I'm glad as hell they needed me elsewhere the day you two went after Roronoa... I think it's pretty clear who those Supernovas and the rest of the Mugiwara crew are going to hold responsible for their loss. If I was either of you - especially you, Sakazuki - I'd watch my back."

"Goddamn pirates. I TOLD you we should've just killed that bastard on the spot and left his body for Dragon's son to find."

xxx

Life on the Sunny is awkward for a long time, because even though their crewmate's physical wounds heal fairly quickly after Chopper convinces him to ease back a bit on the weight lifting, the psychological damage takes much longer to mend, and he's often unpredictable and moody and distressingly close-mouthed despite their strongest efforts to keep his mind focused on the present rather than dwelling obsessively on the past. As Luffy tells him frequently, there's nothing wrong with remembering or feeling sad about everything that's happened, as long as he doesn't forget that he's got eight nakama to talk to when the memories become too painful to bear alone.

The triggers that send their swordsman's mind tumbling into depression and paranoia are, as Law warned, variable and often puzzling. It takes them several weeks alone to determine why he's developed a sudden aversion to sea birds, until he grudgingly admits that their calls set his teeth on edge because it sounds too much like someone laughing. They don't quite understand the connection and Sanji thinks the noise resembles nothing more than a whole lot of noisy squawking, but the cook takes to storing a bowl of scraps in the fridge to keep the news gulls quiet when they deliver the papers.

Nami buys a bottle of the newly-developed Criminal perfume from Pappug's store when they make a brief stop to visit Keimi on their way through Fishman Island, but she ends up giving it to the mermaid as a parting gift after Zoro nearly draws Kitetsu on her when they bump into each other in the entry way outside the bathhouse and the musky, flowery scent clinging to the navigator sends him into a panic.

Things get even more complicated when, after a few spontaneous and badly botched attempts and one long private conversation that leaves Zoro shaken and Luffy in tears and everyone else slightly bewildered but not quite daring enough to ask what they've missed, the captain and his first mate eventually make the conscious decision to mend their last bridge and reintroduce the sexual aspect of their relationship. There are problems from the start but, while they don't particularly want to know the details, their crewmembers are supportive and patient despite the shouting matches and broken furniture and fist-shaped dents in the men's quarters' lockers, and everyone feels an enormous sense of relief when a rather cheerful Luffy finally announces at breakfast one morning that he wants Franky to remodel the storage room below the men's quarters to add another bedroom to the ship.

When he goes on to insist that, while the shipwright can build the frame, they also need to buy a queen-sized mattress and all the necessary bedding to go with it before they leave for the next island, Nami opens her mouth to demand just where he expects her to find the money because it sure as hell doesn't grow on trees, but then Zoro wanders into the dining hall and leans over the captain's shoulder to pluck a fresh pastry out of Usopp's hand while the sniper's looking in the opposite direction. The swordsman is distinctly sleep-rumpled and more relaxed than the navigator's seen him look in weeks, so she gives a small mental shrug and leaves her protest unvoiced, deciding she can spare the beli.

"Wish you idiots would stop staring at me," Zoro mumbles around his mouthful of dough and icing, flushing darkly when he realizes that the entire crew's grinning at him, but he doesn't move his hand from where it's resting on the back of Luffy's neck, and the younger pirate can't stop beaming so gleefully that Usopp's snickering too much to care about his stolen breakfast.

_If that look doesn't scream I-got-laid-last-night, then I don't know what does._

He doesn't mean to say this out loud, but it somehow slips out anyway, and the marksman yelps as his red-faced nakama cuffs him in the ear and threatens to dump his ass overboard while the captain laughs uproariously and the others look on with mixed disconcertion and amusement.

Unfortunately, while the gradual resolution of their crewmates' sexual tension leaves everyone breathing easier, other hurdles remain and perhaps the greatest challenge is keeping a positive attitude as they make their way through the same waters and stop at the same checkpoints that they've seen once before. Zoro, who's growing steadily uneasier as they retrace their steps, insists on disembarking to defend the ship from some very familiar giant beetles, despite the crew's repeated warnings that he should let those with long-distance weaponry deal with the attacks. He's been training persistently since their second arrival on this side of the Red Line, but hasn't yet tested himself in actual combat until now, and the insects have no idea what's hit them; he returns to Sunny bloodied and slightly blistered and reeking of chemicals, his katana quivering in his good hand, and only Luffy's brave enough to approach the older pirate and ease the sword from his grasp before steering him off to the bathhouse.

Nami, seated at her desk in the observation room with a map spread before her, listens to Zoro's faint sobbing and the captain's quiet reassurances as she stares down at the needle inside the glass bauble strapped to her wrist, dreading the announcement she'll soon be forced to make regarding their next stop, even though she's well aware they both already know what's coming.

Several days later, when the navigator hesitantly informs them that they're once again approaching THAT island - the one where their entire world was turned upside down - the swordsman retreats to his and Luffy's quarters and positively refuses to emerge from below-decks until the log pose resets and they're free to leave. Before he hurries after his agitated lover, Luffy insists that any crewmembers leaving the ship to resupply travel in trios and sends Robin to the crows nest, where she can best use her unique ability to keep tabs on anyone or anything that might be a potential threat.

He finds Zoro crammed into the narrow gap between their bed and the wall separating their room from the storage section, hugging his knees and looking extremely unnerved, and it's nearly an hour before he's able to coax the older pirate up onto the mattress itself. His first mate is thoroughly disgusted with himself yet unable to discuss his own turbulent emotions, so the rubber man climbs into his lap and gently grasps his jaw between both palms, using passionate kisses to distract the swordsman until he's able to redirect his attention to something other than his own discomfort and fear.

Thankfully, his clumsy subterfuge works; after several hours pass and Franky's raised the anchor and gotten Sunny moving again, Chopper comes down to check on them and pass on the word that they're headed for the next island, tapping hesitantly at the door. Luffy calls out quietly that it's unlocked, and the doctor slips inside, blushing furiously as he averts his eyes from the tangled sheets and finger-shaped bruises blooming on the captain's shoulders and biceps and the way Zoro's wrapped solidly around the younger man's back and clutching possessively at his bare chest.

"Sorry, I didn't wanna wake him up 'cause it took him a long time to fall asleep."

"I'll tell everybody to keep it down," the reindeer promises, his embarrassment fading as their green-haired nakama stirs, making a low urgent noise that sounds heartbreakingly like a whimper, and tightens his arms around Luffy's waist and the rubber man leans his head back to nuzzle the swordsman's cheek and murmur something that Chopper can't quite catch despite his sharp hearing but that makes the older pirate's tensed body relax and the deep creases on his forehead smooth out.

xxx

Dealing with the loss gets easier over time- something that makes all of them uncomfortable, because they think it shouldn't get easier, and Zoro takes it harder than most because it almost feels as though he's betraying his son's memory the first time he somehow makes it through an entire day of helping Franky reorganize his workshop and squabbling with the ero-cook and defending the ship from an unexpected sea king attack, only to realize he's not thought of the baby once all afternoon.

The crew's eventually so busy with fending off other pirates and doing their damnedest not to get killed in the bizarre places that the log pose takes them that there isn't much time to think about anything but survival and keeping one another safe, but sometimes the swordsman will be rummaging through his locker for a clean haramaki or hefting one of his barbells back into the weight stand, and suddenly it'll hit him all over again like a slap in the face, and he'll be startled and surprised to find tears streaming down his face.

He knows it happens to Luffy as well; one moment the captain will be cheerfully stealing food off someone else's plate and causing the cook endless aggravation at the dinner table, and the next he's pale and silent and no longer interested in the meal before him, his smile dying on his lips as the mirth in his eyes fades into pain and confusion.

Their nakama may not always say much at times like these, but there's always acknowledgment of their emotional distress and the promise of comfort if needed: a hug from Nami, a pat on the back from Franky, a resolute squeeze of the shoulder by Sanji.

And so it goes, day by day, as weeks slip into months and before they know it, an entire year's gone by.

xxx

When Nami turns away from the news gull one morning and unfolds the paper, glancing unconcernedly over the front page, she nearly drops it.

"Coffee, Robin-chwan, Nami-sa-? Nami-san, what's wrong?"

"N-Nothing," the navigator stammers, moving hurriedly to stuff the periodical out of sight before-

"Oi, eyebrow cook, where the hell's the-" At the sight of the navigator's pinched expression, Zoro - who's just emerged from the dining hall doorway with a towel in hand because he's run out of dish detergent - raises an eyebrow. "Eh, what's with you?"

"Zoro? Did Sanji say if we have any more- huh, what's going on?" Luffy asks, peering around the swordsman. "Nami, why do you look so funny?"

"Gas- must've been the bacon!" Nami blurts without thinking, but before she realizes what she's just said and why all three men are staring at her so incredulously, the paper's plucked from her grasp by a disembodied hand. "Ah, Robin- wait, don't-!"

"What in the world's got you so flustered?" The historian queries, flipping the pages open after she passes it to herself. "Surely the exchange rate hasn't- oh. Oh my."

Sanji, who's craning his neck to peer over her shoulder, makes a strangled choking noise, and the first mate and the captain exchange a look.

"Alright, what the fuck's going on?"

"Zoro, what's the matter with Sanji? Did he just accidentally swallow his cigarette?"

"Guys, I'm not sure-"

"No, I think it's best you show them now, before they hear it somewhere else."

"What the hell's with you people?" Zoro demands, striding over to yank the paper from the older woman's fingers. "What could possibly be so-"

He breaks off, staring, and there's a whuff of shock from the rubber man crowding against his side in his effort to see what's gotten everyone so agitated.

"Luffy, Zoro- I'm sorry," Nami tells them quietly, wringing her hands. "I just-"

"S'okay, Nami, I get it," the captain sighs, offering her a small smile as he curls an arm around his first mate's waist, leaning his head against the older pirate's shoulder and peering up at his troubled face. "Is Zoro okay?"

"Yeah, I- yeah. It just kinda took me by surprise..."

"Tell me about it," Sanji mutters.

"... Vivi looks so happy," the swordsman murmurs, his expression warring between joy and sadness as he studies the reprinted photograph of the beaming blue-haired princess and her stern but proud-looking consort and the squinty-eyed infant peering from the bundle they're holding between them. The lengthy caption below the picture offers details on the royal family's new addition, but he doesn't get past the text explaining that the Straw Hat's nakama's given birth to a baby girl before his vision gets too blurry to let him continue.

"Kohza better take care of both of 'em, or I'll march straight back to Arabasta and kick his ass," the cook grumbles, and he's surprised when Zoro chuckles softly despite the shadows in his damp eye.

"Nah, I don't think you've got anything to worry about, shitty cook- Vivi'll keep that guy in line. And she's gonna be a great mom."

Both he and Sanji are puzzled when Luffy's fingers tighten in his shirt and Nami turns away with tears in her eyes.

xxx

During the last mad dash for Raftel, when Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid put aside their differences long enough to join forces against all three Admirals and the largest fleet of Marines he's ever seen in an epic battle that makes Marineford resemble a children's sandbox dispute, Zoro's too preoccupied with keeping his head attached to his shoulders to fly into a rage at the sight of the men who were responsible for his imprisonment. While he'd like to think it's because he's older and wiser, he knows it's merely because he's too hard pressed countering Mihawk's vicious attacks and hoping like hell that his disfigured hand doesn't betray him to spare more than a glance at Akainu and Kizaru.

Luffy, however, catches one glimpse of the magma man and unleashes a Haki-powered bellow of outrage and challenge that fells nearby foes and friends alike as he launches himself across the battlefield to engage the larger man, and the green-haired pirate wants to shout at his captain to be careful, but he doesn't have time for more than a fleeting prayer to the god he doesn't believe in before his former swordsmanship tutor backs him against a rocky outcropping and he's too busy defending himself to think about anything other than dodging and blocking- and trying not to panic at the sensation of Asura stirring impatiently somewhere inside him.

When it's all over and the surviving Marines are fleeing towards their ships and the smoke's clearing, courtesy of Nami's Clima-Tact, to reveal crimson-splattered ground scattered with the casualties of both sides, the limping swordsman discovers his lover sprawled beneath the bulk of the Admiral he's killed, and for one heart-stopping moment, Zoro's convinced that the rubber man's dead, but then Luffy coughs and opens his eyes.

"-got him. I GOT HIM, ACE, I GOT HIM!"

Whether he's addressing his brother or their son, the first mate doesn't know, and as he's joined by Sanji and they roll Akainu's body off their captain, he decides it doesn't matter because Luffy's alive and he's alive and the shitty cook's alive and-

Zoro's laughing and crying simultaneously, crushing his bewildered lover against his chest as he slaps the perturbed blond repeatedly on the back, as the rest of the Straw Hats - filthy and exhausted and ALIVE - wander over to join the trio.

"Good to see Roronoa's finally got his shit together. Had me starting to worry."

Franky glances down to find Law standing at his side, blood-stained hat wadded in one hand. "Oi-"

"Don't mind me," the surgeon assures the glaring cyborg, smirking widely as he sidesteps the massive hand reaching for him. "Just passin' through."

"Hmm? Hmmph!" Luffy struggles to disengage his mouth from his swordsman's, because while Zoro's busy trying to kiss the younger pirate senseless, his rival is edging away in the direction of the only human structure on the island, and the same place they were headed before the Marines appeared and made them momentarily forget why they were here in the first place. "Gah, leggo! One Piece! Lemme go get One Piece and then Zoro can kiss me all he wants!"

xxx

Eighteen months later:

"... Zoro?" Luffy calls quietly as he crosses the carpet to the bedside, pausing for just a moment before he slides his palm across the dozing swordsman's chest. Six years after Impel Down and the subsequent events that nearly tore the crew apart, his first mate's finally lost most if not necessarily all of his jumpiness at being disturbed while napping, but it's become second nature for the captain to alert the older pirate to his presence before touching him. Despite the crew's caution, there have been too many flashback-inspired accidents to do otherwise.

"Mmn?"

"Oi, Zoro missed breakfast- he slept right through it." Fingertips skitter over the green-haired man's bare skin, tickling gently. "C'mon, wake up already! Sanji wants-"

He's silenced rather abruptly when his lover's arm snakes around his neck and shoulders and tugs him down for a searing kiss, and when Zoro finally releases him, the younger man's face is flushed and his lips feel swollen and bruised, but he can't help grinning enormously at the sleepy yet smug smile below him.

"Zoro's lucky Sanji didn't come to wake him up-" he teases, shrugging his shoulders to assist the hands tugging at his coat. "-considering he didn't look to make sure it was me."

"The shitty cook doesn't come in without knocking, and besides, I recognized your footsteps- you're the only person I know who scampers when he walks." A faint snort of amusement. "Whoever heard of a pirate who- nrgh, goddamn it, Luffy, help me with this thing before I just rip it off! What the hell do you need so many stupid buttons for anyway?"

"Shanks says I need a coat that'll make me-" Luffy squints, trying to recall his mentor's words. "Uh, what'd he say, again?"

"I think he said some crap about resembling a figure of authority, but that's kind of a joke so far as you're-"

"Don't be mean!" The Pirate King protests, although his scowl abruptly vanishes when the swordsman's hips roll against him. "Mmm, do that again."

"Bossy Sencho," Zoro mutters, but he complies anyway, grimacing when the fumbling fingers of his right hand slip off the button they're struggling to undo. "Son of a-!"

"Here, it's okay- I'll get it." Luffy wriggles, twisting impossibly as he tries to squirm out of the garment without tearing it. He's hoping his antics will make Zoro laugh, but he's too busy glaring at his own uncooperative flesh to notice, so the younger pirate captures the damaged appendage with his own hand and addresses the scar tissue with kisses and licks and gentle nibbling until the other man unclenches his fist. While the swordsman's regained enough dexterity to wield a katana with it - and rather well at that, the captain muses - and he doesn't have much difficulty manipulating decently-sized objects, fine adjustments tend to frustrate him, and he's still somewhat hesitant to touch his lover's body with it, although Luffy's slowly but surely breaking him of that habit.

Sure enough, the older pirate's already relaxing, gently breaking the grip on his fingers so he can trail them down the rubber man's chest and stomach and grinning broadly at the incoherent noises that his caresses produce as they move lower. "Took you long enough to get your ass back downstairs, y'know. I fell asleep waiting for you."

"I was wondering why Zoro was still-" A shudder travels through him as his eyes alight on the small bottle resting on the bedside table and he reluctantly pulls away from the hand grasping him so he can roll the swordsman onto his stomach. There's a tiny flicker of disquiet in his first mate's eye, but it vanishes as quickly as it surfaces, and Luffy's own hesitation fades when he sees there's nothing but honest trust in the other man's face, and when he trails his fingertips over sensitive flesh, he discovers Zoro's already slick and wet and arching back into his touch, and after a little while he stops thinking altogether as the world narrows down to their bodies moving slowly in unison and his breath catches in his throat when his lover comes undone below him, gasping his name and tightening around him, and it's so good he thinks he might die.

"Nmm... what's wrong with my coat?" He mumbles against the older pirate's neck sometime much later when they can both breathe again and Zoro's sprawled bonelessly beneath him, back rising and falling steadily under the captain's chest. "I thought Zoro said I look good in the coat ..."

"You do, but you look better out of it." The swordsman's smirk is half-hidden by the pillows and rumpled sheets by his head, but Luffy can hear the amusement in his voice, and he's glad, because it's only right that his first mate sounds so satisfied and indolent.

They lie in comfortable silence for a while, until the older pirate finally squirms out from under him and slides out of bed, grumbling that he needs to take a leak.

"Oi, you were gonna tell me something earlier- something about the damn swirly brow cook?" Zoro asks, stretching languidly and trying not to cringe at the tickling sensation of the moisture that's suddenly trailing down his inner thigh.

_Ugh; thanks, Luffy- not only do I gotta take a leak, but now I'm leakING. I need a shower something awful._

"Nee hee- does Zoro need a tissue or something?"

"... shut up, you, and tell me what Dartboard wants before the bastard comes looking for us 'cause he starts wondering why the hell it's taking you so long."

"Sanji wants Zoro to go fishing," Luffy finally recalls, resting his chin on his arms as he openly admires the play of the muscles beneath his lover's skin. There's a few more notable scars criss-crossing Zoro's hide these days - thankfully nothing so dramatic as the original one running across his broad chest - but the captain supposes that's to be expected.

"Tell him to get his own damn fish," the World's Greatest Swordsman grumbles as he searches the floor for his pants.

"He wants Zoro to do it."

"Wha- why me? We got a whole damn fleet of rookies out there who'd be all but fallin' over each other for a chance to impress him. I swear that asshole just likes watching me bleed- blasted sea kings are always a hell of a lot meaner in All Blue than anywhere else." The older pirate scowls, fingering the still-healing puncture wounds just under his ribcage. "That last fucker had some seriously wicked teeth. Tasted pretty good though."

There's a faint snort close behind him, and then arms wrap firmly around his waist and a warm body presses to his back.

"Sanji says Zoro's better at it than anybody else, which he also says I'm not supposed to tell Zoro on pain of death or something, and-" Luffy goes still against him. "... he said he figured Zoro'd rather do it anyway... 'cause it's for dinner tonight."

"Ah. I guess it's that time again already, isn't it?"

Zoro's voice is deceptively mild, but the rubber man's arms tighten reflexively over his hips, because the younger pirate's aware that his lover knows damn well why today's an important day, and why the original core crew's been a bit subdued and particularly patient and affectionate with them both since earlier this week. The newer recruits never understand why the normally buoyant Straw Hat captain suddenly becomes very quiet this time of year, or why his normally standoffish first mate stops protesting his blatant public displays of affection and also unexpectedly allows the Sunny's navigator to hug him, but those who have been with the crew longer quickly hush their questions.

"I know it's been another year, but it seems like it comes around faster every time," the swordsman murmurs, and he closes his eye and leans his head back against the younger pirate's as he feels Luffy's fingers move down to gently trace the old scar spanning his abdomen.

"I don't know if I ever-" His voice catches in his throat and it's a few moments before he can talk again. "Did I ever tell Zoro thank you for everything he did-?"

"Maybe not out loud... but you didn't need to say it- I see it in your eyes every time you look at me."

There's a loud sniffle in his ear and he pulls his captain around him so they're standing face-to-face, cupping Luffy's face between his hands and thumbing away the tears collecting in the corners of his eyes. They stare at each other, solemn and silent, and then Zoro smiles.

"C'mon, Sencho- let's get dressed and go catch a fish for Ace."


	20. ALTERNATE ENDING

Author's Note: Welcome to Crossfire's alternate ending! If you made it through the original, super-angsty version but found the lack of a legitimate HAPPY happy ending disappointing, or if you hit the end of chapter 13 and decided "screw this, I'm holding out for the less angsty conclusion" and didn't just decide to drop me like a hot rock for being so incredibly evil, then hopefully you'll enjoy this.

To avoid confusion, please note that the alternate ending not only takes the place of the second half of chapter 13 but also completely negates chapters 14-18. Considering the contents of this version, none of the events in those chapters could or would have happened. So far as the epilogue goes, I still consider major events such as Zoro finally overcoming his issues with sex, the birth of Vivi and Kohza's daughter, the final battle and the race for One Piece, Luffy and Zoro's realization of their dreams and the discovery of All Blue as canon to the alternate version as well- it's just the details that are slightly different. It's possible that I may write a few drabbles based on the alternative versions of these events, but I have no plans to actually rework the entire epilogue.

A word of warning- this chapter is WEIRD. I almost stopped writing it multiple times, because I kept asking myself just what the hell I was thinking, but in the end, I couldn't resist. Also, this ending is very Oda-esque as well, in that sense where things go from really downbeat and angsty to near hilarity in no time at all. It might seem bizarre, but that's the way One Piece rolls.

I'm not going to re-post the entire first half of chapter 13, so here's a relatively quick recap: Law, who's been stalking the Straw Hats because he's bored and curious about why they've left the New World, has just inadvertently saved their asses by destroying the G-1 ship that's attacking them, and the Heart pirate captain's just discovered that not only were the rumors about Roronoa Zoro getting captured and imprisoned in Impel Down true, but there's some other seriously weird shit going down.

Prompted by Luffy's statement that, yes, he's going to keep chasing after One Piece regardless of what happens, therefore providing some friendly competition and making life a bit less boring, the Surgeon of Death agrees to lend a hand performing the laparotomy needed to save both the swordsman and the captain's son.

Zoro, because he's concerned that being sedated could cause more complications for the baby and also because he's Zoro and therefore not quite right in the head and entirely too much fun for writers like me - and even his own creator - to torture mercilessly, insists that Law and Chopper do the procedure without anesthesia, enlisting Robin to use her Akuma no Mi powers to hold him still so they don't need to worry about accidentally slicing up anything vital during the operation. He also insists that Luffy, who's understandably apprehensive about him going under the knife, gets the hell out because he's well aware that being cut open's not going to be pretty and could potentially kill him anyway.

We last left off with the captain throwing a fit and being forcibly removed from the room, Law displaying mad scalpel-twirling skills and Zoro discovering that having people digging around inside his abdominal cavity isn't much fun...

(Posted 5/5/11; happy birthday, Luffy- hope you got everything you wanted this year. Looks like Zoro's got something extra special for you.)

xxx

Luffy goes wild at the sound of his swordsman's ragged screams, scratching and biting and cursing at the cyborg restraining him, until Franky pins the hysterical younger pirate facedown in the grass, bellowing for someone to help him as he uses his free arm to defend his eyes and face from the onslaught.

In the end, it takes Usopp, Sanji and Brook together to aid the shipwright in securing the captain's flailing limbs, until he goes completely boneless and quivering under their combined weight when his lover's voice abruptly falls silent.

Nami, silently and immensely relieved but also earnestly frightened that Zoro's no longer making such horrible noises, pries the equally stunned and appalled men off the rubber man, and he immediately latches onto the navigator, wrapping both arms tightly around her waist and crushing his face between her breasts. It startles her, but Luffy's trembling and clutching at her so violently that she doesn't try to push him away.

"Must've passed out," Sanji mutters, pacing back and forth across the lawn deck and scattering toothpicks into the grass when he tries to fish one from his shirt pocket. "That's one of my favorite belts- if Marimo chewed it in half, I swear I'll- I'll-"

He drops down beside Nami, easing a trembling arm around her and their wide-eyed captain, and Usopp takes the navigator's other side while Franky and Brook hover nearby, exchanging several worried glances before they finally join their nakama.

xxx

They're still sitting there in silence, watching the clouds roll past overhead without actually seeing them and unsure whether hours have passed or merely minutes, when Chopper bursts from the women's quarters, flailing so wildly that he loses his balance and tumbles straight down the steps in a squealing, bouncing ball of fur. He lands upside down with his antlers embedded in the lawn deck, and his astounded crewmates watch him struggle to right himself for a few moments before Luffy flings out both arms to yank him free.

"Gah~!" The reindeer wails as he's hauled into their midst, colliding forcefully enough with the rubber man's chest to knock the whole group sprawling. There's a few stifled curses and Sanji, operating on autopilot, drives his knuckles into the side of the captain's head, but the younger pirate's too busy bombarding the dazed doctor with questions and shaking him violently to notice.

"What's going on? Is Zoro okay? What about the baby- is the baby okay too? What's it look like- does it have hair yet? My grandfather said I already had hair when I was born! Does the baby? If it does, what color does it-? I mean, does HE- I mean, the baby, not Zoro- Zoro's got green hair, but does the baby have green hair too? Can I-?"

Chopper, feeling as though his brain's rattling around inside his skull, reaches out and smashes the babbling captain's cheeks together. "STOP SHAKING ME!"

Lips pursed comically like a startled fish - although no one's laughing because now they're all waiting impatiently for answers - Luffy freezes, holding the doctor at arm's length, and they stare at each other.

"It's- it's- IT'S A BOY!"

"I know it's a boy! IS HE OKAY? WHAT ABOUT ZORO- IS ZORO OKAY?"

"I THINK SO, BUT HE- THEY- THEY STILL NEED A DOCTOR! W-WAIT, I'M A DOCTOR!" The Zoan explodes into a churning mass of panic, but he can't escape the rubber arms that have coiled tightly around his middle. "LUFFY! LUFFY! WE CAN'T LET THAT SCARY SURGEON LEAVE! I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH A BABY!"

"NEITHER DO I!" The captain shrieks. "NAMI! NAMI KNOWS ALL KINDS OF STUFF- TELL US WHAT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DO!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake-" Nami groans, pushing the hysterical pair off her lap. "Both of you shut up and stay here while I go ask Robin what's going on."

"No, I-I'm going too!" Luffy insists, latching onto her arm and resisting her best efforts to shake him loose, and before she knows what's happening, the navigator's dragging him and Chopper - who he's still clutching - up the stairs with Usopp, Sanji, Franky and Brook following close enough to tread on her heels.

They're crowding up against the door, pushing and shoving and attempting unsuccessfully to dodge the aggravated red-head's fists, when it opens unexpectedly and dumps them to the deck.

Robin peers down at the pile of nakama sprawled at her feet, examining the tangle of arms and legs and disgruntled faces until she spots a familiar straw hat peeking from Franky's right armpit. "Ah, there you are, Sencho."

The captain scrabbles his way clear of the flailing limbs and tries to peer anxiously around her, still clutching Chopper tightly around the middle. "Where's-"

"ROBIN!" Chopper squirms free and launches himself at the historian's leg, wrapping his arms tightly around it and hanging on for dear life. "DON'T LET LAW LEAVE- IF HE DOES, WE'RE DOOMED!"

"Calm down- you're doing just fine. Trafalgar-san even said so himse-" She's interrupted by what sounds to most of her crewmates like a scalded cat yowling. "Oh dear- it seems we're disturbing someone."

"I-Is that-" Luffy, who managed to not only damage a good bit of the ship but also leave sizeable bruises on several people in his desperation to get back into the women's quarters earlier, finds himself stalling on the threshold and nervously resisting the five sets of hands trying to shove him through the doorway, because the prospect of walking into that room, he's just decided, is downright intimidating. In fact, he thinks he's never been so afraid of anything in his entire life, because the world's suddenly turned upside down, and his stomach's doing a funny excited flip-flop like a stranded fish and what the hell was he thinking, assuming that either of them were prepared to deal with a BABY? "W-Wait a second- I'm not sure I-!"

"Don't be silly," Robin chides kindly, taking one of the captain's raised hands and laughing despite her discomfort when he squeezes it brutally tight and flashes her an utterly terrified but optimistic smile at the sound of Zoro calling his name.

"O-Oi, Captain-" The swordsman's voice is hoarse, his speech slightly slurred, but there's no mistaking his tone for anything but pure impatience. "Quit screwing around and get your ass in here- I got somebody you need to meet..."

xxx

"You know," Nami mutters as she sits cross-legged on the sofa, snipping roughly square pieces of fabric from the old t-shirts and other articles of clothing piled beside her. "It'd really be something if this crew was actually prepared for once, instead of running around in a panic at the last minute."

Robin laughs softly, glancing up from where she's rummaging through the vanity dresser, searching for the safety pins she knows are lurking amidst all the accumulated clutter. "I suspect it would also be a miracle... but they certainly don't seem to mind."

The navigator twists around to peer over the backrest and can't help smiling at the small crowd of nakama gathered on and around the nearby beds, chattering in subdued but excited voices and periodically falling silent whenever Chopper glares at them for getting too boisterous.

"Yes, I know it looks painful, but it's really not that- no, Luffy, that doesn't mean you can poke at it!"

"Knock it off," Zoro grumbles, swatting the captain's fingers away from their cautious inspection of the baby's clamped umbilical cord stump. "He's had a rough enough day already with those guys passing him back and forth and jabbing him with needles and making him cry- he doesn't need you messing with him too."

Sprawled on his right side with Luffy tucked solidly against his back and leaning over him to peer down at the dozing newborn nestled comfortably in the crook of his arm, the older pirate's still pale-faced and shaky from the transfusion that saved his life, as well as from the painkillers currently circulating through his system, but he's surprisingly coherent.

"I'm not poking or messing with him!" The rubber man protests, although his hand retreats nonetheless, because while the reindeer merely sounds annoyed and possibly a bit exasperated, there's no mistaking the clear warning note in the swordsman's voice. "I just wanted to look at what kept him alive inside Zoro."

"It almost didn't. When the placenta detached, everything going through there - nutrients, oxygen, etcetera - totally stopped, just like somebody putting a kink in a piece of tubing. You're just damn lucky the kid responded so well to treatment, 'cause for a little while there he sure as hell looked like he wasn't going to make it." Law, who's making a final adjustment to the IV drip, misses the way every Straw Hat in the room winces visibly at his words. He doesn't, however, overlook the flash of aggression that flickers over Zoro's features when he reaches out to straighten the lines and strays a bit too close to the other man's occupied elbow. "Relax, man, relax. I won't try to steal your little bundle of joy for any more tests, I promise. Your tanuki's got everything under control, so I'll be headed out shortly anyway."

"Good, 'cause we've both had enough of you," the swordsman mutters, earning a brief scolding from Sanji for antagonizing the surgeon.

"The guy saved your-" The cook hesitates, then plunges ahead anyway, because Marimo's told him repeatedly now to quit worrying about what he says, although it's going to be a long time before he's able to do so without feeling guilty. "-saved your ass, and the kid's too! You could at least be grateful for-"

"I am, stupid Dartboard Brow, but I'm also sick of getting stabbed by those frickin' huge needles. He might've saved our asses, but if he brings one of those things near either of us again, I'm gonna make him fucking eat the goddamn thi-!" He's getting progressively louder, and when the baby startles at his raised voice, flailing both arms out and uttering a high-pitched squeal of outrage and alarm, the green-haired pirate immediately adjusts the volume. "Ah, shit, sorry, sorry! I keep forgetting... it must be a lot noisier out here than it was in there, huh, little guy?"

His lowered pitch, combined with his body heat as he cradles his arm tighter against his side, soothes the infant's distress and the crying wavers and then quiets, leaving Zoro feeling relieved and slightly stunned.

_Phew, for being so sensitive to noise, he can sure make a lot of it himself!_

"You know, I didn't realize a newborn would be quite so... wrinkly," Usopp muses from where he's kneeling next to the bed, his chin resting atop his crossed arms on the mattress, and restraining his growing urge to tickle their newest crewmember under the chin. He's certainly not afraid of incurring Zoro's wrath, or so he tells himself- but he's not suicidal either.

"Yeah!" Luffy laughs emphatically, then claps a hand over his mouth, looking sheepish when he earns several glares and one threatening rumble. "I mean, yeah... he's actually pruny, like my fingers get when I stay in the tub for a really long time."

"Hot baths... god, I miss that damn ofuro..." There's scattered chuckles at the swordsman's wistful expression. "Can I-?"

"After the sutures come out," Chopper promises.

"And sake?" The older pirate queries, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"We'll see."

"Tch. He says we'll see- you hear that crap?" Zoro murmurs. He shifts, rolling onto his back slowly to avoid dislodging the catheter taped to his hand and trying not to wince as he eases himself into a reclining position with the baby clasped belly-down against his bare torso. "I gave up booze for you - well, temporarily, anyway - but I think Sencho needs to order our doctor to let us crack a barrel to welcome you to the crew."

"Zoro just wants to drink," Luffy teases, snuggling into his lover's side and reaching up to run gentle fingertips down their son's back. "Heh, even though he's wrinkly, he feels soft, almost furry like Chopper!"

"Of course, he does," Sanji snorts. "Even if he's not green, the kid's still a miniature Marimo, right?"

"Apparently this is what you get when you cross a moss ball with a Monkey," Usopp quips back to the cook, reasoning that the swordsman won't risk taking a swipe at him for fear of dropping the infant.

The comment earns him a bright grin and barely restrained laughter from the captain, and Zoro scowls forebodingly, his expression a silent promise to kick the sniper's ass later, although the older pirate's quickly distracted by the much smaller body making itself comfortable against his chest and stomach. "Ha ha. We're just surrounded by assholes, aren't we?"

He strokes his thumb through the fine wisps of hair where his right hand's cupping the baby's crown, hating the way his missing ring and pinkie fingers make it more difficult to keep a secure grasp and vowing darkly to kill anyone who dares try to mar his son's tender, pink skin. Looking down at his damaged hand sends a chill flashing up his spine as he recalls the choice Sadi offered him, and for the hundredth or possibly thousandth time since someone - he can't remember if it was one of his own nakama or the visiting surgeon, because he was too busy staring in awe at what they'd pulled from his body - laid this impossible little creature in his arms, he tells himself that the fingers were a very, very small price to pay. "Seriously, why's he feel like he's covered in really thick peach fuzz?"

At least the kid's NOT covered with nasty gooey white gunk anymore; the swordsman got a brief glimpse of that earlier, when he regained consciousness to find Law testing the reflexes of the baby wriggling and fussing beside him while Robin and Chopper sponged him free of what looked like the congealed grease from one of the shitty cook's frying pans. He can't remember what they called it - something starting with a V - but it sure as hell didn't look right and had scared him half out of his anesthetic-addled mind until all three of them finally convinced him that it was normal.

_I can deal with fuzzy- that's not so bad, but it's a good thing most of the crew hates cream cheese, because I think I'd puke if it showed up on the dining hall table after this..._

"The furry-looking stuff's called lanugo. It's pretty common in preemies, but it'll go away in a week or two. Oi, you might not want to hold him like that for too long, Roronoa-san," the surgeon warns, ignoring the grumbling that starts when he pulls back the sheet to make sure his patient hasn't torn any stitches sitting up. "I know he only weighs eighty-seven ounces, and you might not feel it too much right now 'cause you're still kind of doped up, but you're gonna be kicking yourself later if you strain your abdominal muscles."

"Don't worry about it- I'll be fine." _Five and a half pounds? You've gotta be kidding; he can't possibly weigh that much- he looks so damn tiny in my hands, I'm afraid I'm gonna break him!_

"Speaking of marimos," Franky mutters, speaking up for the first time because he's been too busy trying not to stare since he rejoined them a few minutes ago, having returned from restocking cola barrels in the energy room. "Ah, he's certainly very much... a he..."

"Fuckin' pervert! What the hell do you think you're doing, looking at my kid's-?"

"Actually," Brook interrupts, removing his hat to scratch quizzically at his temple. "Franky-san's right. Your son appears to be, err- rather well-endowed."

Usopp and Luffy, both struggling unsuccessfully to contain their laughter, burst into low snickers. Sanji coughs, sounding offended as he tries to insist that the conversation's highly inappropriate with ladies present, but he's also hiding a grin.

"What's WRONG with you people?" Zoro demands, yanking the sheet out of Law's hands and tugging it higher to conceal the baby's lower half from prying eyes. "And Luffy, jeez, what are you- five?"

Chopper, trying valiantly to keep a straight face, pats the older pirate's scarred ankle where it's resting within reach of his seat at the bed's foot. "Don't worry, that's normal too. Most human male infants have an, ah, unusually large scrotum when they're born- you guys probably did too, you know. It's temporary; he won't look that way in a few months."

"Bunch of idiots," the swordsman mutters, listening to the captain and sniper erupt into hysterical juvenile giggles because the doctor's used the word "scrotum" - he's not sure if they're more or less ridiculous than Franky and Brook, who're grinning and nudging each other despite being too bloody old to be laughing at shit like that - and very carefully adjusting his grip. "Hate to tell you this, kiddo, but the rest of the family's kinda retarded. Including your father. Err, not me- the other one."

He blinks, amused, when the baby whimpers and noses him, rooting clumsily against his chest. "Oi, sorry, but you'll have to wait 'til the swirly-brow cook gets off his ass and finds you something to eat in the kitchen, 'cause I'm pretty sure I haven't got what you're looking f- GAH!"

He may not be producing milk - he'll be eternally grateful that his oversized belly was NOT accompanied by matching breasts - but Zoro's been unexpectedly reminded that he does indeed still have nipples, because the small questing mouth's latched onto the nearest one with surprising force. He tries to pull away, his face burning because the other men have been startled into shocked and amazed silence, but he doesn't want to hurt the kid, who's resisting his efforts to escape with stubborn determination.

Luffy's brow furrows in perplexity. "Huh, I didn't think Zoro was gonna be able to-"

"Of course I can't, you moron!" The embarrassed older pirate glares at his captain's slowly spreading smile. "Damn it, Luffy, wipe that stupid grin off your face and help me get him off!"

"Here." Law swoops in to the rescue, poking the tip of his little finger into the corner of the baby's mouth to break the suction, and the swordsman stifles a yelp at the audible wet popping sensation as he's released. "Gotta watch out for those primitive reflexes. They're like little lampreys in the beginning- try to suck on anything that comes near their mouths when they're hungry."

"..." Zoro scowls at his amused nakama, particularly the shitty cook, as he scoots the infant closer to his collarbone, uncomfortably aware of the drying saliva producing a chilling effect on his chest. "Not one fucking word from any of you..."

Since waking after the surgery, his pectoral muscles have been surprisingly tender, aching sympathetically whenever the baby cries, and although Chopper and Law have assured him that it's normal and should stop when his disheveled hormone levels return to normal, it's still freaking him out. At least he's not actually leaking anything, like both doctors claim is entirely possible for new fathers according to the studies they've read; his body's done enough strange shit since they ventured into the New World, and he's already planning to spend some serious time in the gym with his weights when - or most likely even before - Chopper clears him to start lifting again.

He'll need to ditch the flab and re-tone his arms if he's planning to wield Kitetsu - and Shuusui, after it's spent some quality time with a proficient blacksmith - plus whatever new sword is out there waiting for him. While Wado's loss hurts tremendously, and he's sure he'll spend the rest of his life feeling pangs of regret whenever he thinks of Kuina's prized katana, his sorrow's somewhat mitigated by the thought that the end of one life's come full circle with the start of a new one.

Although he'd be a lot happier if the damn kid wasn't trying to treat him like a bloody dairy cow.

"What in the world's going on over there?"

"Nothing to worry about, Nami-swan," Sanji calls back cheerfully, fixing his red-faced crewmate with a deviously smug smirk. "You didn't miss much- just Marimo's first attempt at breastfeeding."

"First- wait, what?"

"Here, hold this for a second," Zoro growls, and the captain automatically reaches for the squirming baby being thrust into his arms. "Careful! Make sure you-"

"I remember- I wouldn't forget that!" Luffy insists, already shifting his hold to accommodate their son, because the visiting physician's warned the entire crew repeatedly that the newborn's neck muscles will be too weak to support his head for some time yet. "Shishishi, I finally get to hold you again! I wasn't sure Zoro was gonna let me 'cause he didn't wanna put you down, but he's had you all to himself since we found out he was gonna have you, so it's about time I get a turn to- ah, where's Zoro going?"

"Roronoa! Get back in that fucking bed right this second!"

"Well, I guess I better go find your brat some milk. He'll be stuck with condensed for now, but it's better than no- OI, watch it, shitty Long-nose!" Sanji stumbles backwards, nearly tripping over the sniper who's scrambling out of the way, as he's forced to fend off the advancing swordsman. The blond dodges the punch aimed at his face, laughing as he catches the other man's fist with one hand. "Marimo, save it for later- lie down before you fall down!"

"Zoro, you're going to rupture your sutures!" Chopper, who's switched to Heavy Point but doesn't quite dare to actually grab the older pirate for fear of hurting him, protests helplessly.

"RORONOA-!"

"Good luck," Usopp mutters from the safety of the sofa, where he's joined Nami and Robin. "You know he never listens to-"

"Oh, he'll listen alright- he just needs the right motivation." Law waits patiently for Zoro to lower his guard making another lunge for the cook and then leans forward and raps his knuckles against the closed incision spanning his lower abdomen. "I told you to get back in the goddamn bed!"

"Holy shit!" Sanji blurts, watching as his instantly white-faced and wide-eyed nakama folds like a piece of parchment, immediately losing interest in the quarrel and doubling over to hug himself, uttering pained wheezing noises. "Jeez, that's gotta hurt..."

"... wow, I'm glad Chopper's our doctor and not you!" Usopp mutters a bit more loudly than he intended, cringing as the Heart pirate smiles cheerily in his direction. "Uhm, not that I'm saying you're not a perfectly good- err, I mean, wasn't that a little harsh?"

"Patients should always listen to their physicians. Eh, Tanuki?"

"I-I suppose," Chopper stammers, looking almost traumatized as he eases the panting, trembling swordsman back onto the mattress.

"Fucking- lunatic-!" Zoro gasps, sitting hunched over as he struggles to catch his breath. He shoots Luffy a slightly betrayed look, because the captain's entirely preoccupied by the baby he's laid carefully in his lap so he's got both hands free to stretch his mouth and cheeks into unnatural shapes. The older pirate forces himself to uncurl, grimacing as he braces a hand against his complaining abdominal muscles. "Oi- quit making those frickin' weird faces at him- you're gonna scare him!"

"Am not! Look, he's smiling!"

"... huh, I think you're right-"

_Whoa, even though he's all pink and fuzzy and kinda squishy-faced, he looks really, really goddamn cute beaming up at Luffy like that. And he's OURS, Sencho, yours and mine- we MADE that-!_

He exchanges a glance with his captain - one look at the younger pirate's enormous, moonstruck eyes makes it clear that he's thinking the same thing - and they're abruptly grinning at each other like idiots, and his stomach still hurts like a son of a bitch where the doctor with the worst bedside manner in the Grandline smacked him, but he doesn't care, because his heart's thumping and leaping ecstatically in his chest. There's too many emotions coursing through him to identify them all - he didn't know it was possible to have this much excitement and terror and joy and trepidation and pride and nearly overwhelming euphoria all at the same time - but whatever he's feeling, it's downright fucking amazing.

"I hate to break it to you guys," Law tells them dryly, "-but he's probably just tired. They don't smile intentionally until they're at least a couple months old."

"Nope, he's smiling at me- I know it," Luffy laughs, reaching down to trace his index finger over the baby's cheek and nudging Zoro's hip with his elbow. "Shishishi, look, he's trying to eat my-!"

He jerks back, alarmed at the surprisingly loud wail that bursts suddenly from his son's mouth. "Oi, what's wrong- why are you crying? Zoro- Zoro, what should I do?"

"How the hell should I know? What the fuck were you doing anyway, teasing him?"

"I wasn't! I just wanted to-!"

"Sticking a finger in his face when you know he's hungry is the same damn thing as teasing him, you idiot!"

"Alright, I think that's my cue to leave," Sanji mutters, voice nearly drowned out by his panicking, arguing nakama and their squalling offspring. "Oi, Chopper, you coming along to show me what else I need to mix with that canned crap 'til we get to Water Seven and find some real formula?"

The reindeer, sensitive ears flattened against his skull, can't escape fast enough, casting Law an apologetic grimace over his shoulder as he follows the cook out of the room and leaves the wooden-faced Heart pirate to employ damage control.

"Alright, one of you morons pick the kid up and hold him!" The surgeon shouts over the commotion, glaring at Franky and Brook, who've also abandoned him to join Usopp by the sofas, all three of them looking equally spooked and unlikely to offer any assistance.

Zoro, too dismayed by the crying to take offense to having his intelligence insulted, reaches for the baby at the same time as Luffy, and there's a brief and extremely conservative tussle that the captain wins, carefully lifting the bawling infant in his arms and hugging him securely against his chest like he watched the swordsman do earlier, patting the small back awkwardly and sharing an anxious glance with the older pirate.

"Well, we certainly know he got the lungs from the same person who gave him the hair," Nami calls to Robin, raising her voice to make herself heard over the baby's cries as she passes her crewmate a makeshift diaper cut from a worn black shirt, which the navigator's highly amused to see still sports a faded Galley-La logo on one side. "Here- you better help Luffy with the pins so he doesn't stick himself or the baby."

"We certainly don't want that," the historian agrees, smiling broadly despite the clamor as she joins her nakama on the bed. She glances over at Zoro, seeking his approval, and waits until he gives her a reluctant nod before she stretches out a hand to delicately catch one tiny flailing fist that's tapping harmlessly against the captain's chest. "Such a lot of noise from such a small mouth, Roronoa-Monkey D. Ace..."

To everyone's surprise, Ace quiets almost immediately at the sound of his name, squinting up at the raven-haired woman as he wraps his fingers tightly around her forefinger.

"Hmph- it figures." Zoro snorts, unable to keep a note of jealousy from entering his voice, but Luffy's grinning broadly and gleefully at the others.

"Ha, look at that-!" The captain crows, sounding very pleased and a touch smug. "He knows his name already, and he's not scared of anything! He's definitely my kid!"

"Really, Luffy," Nami snorts in a very unladylike manner, rolling her eyes. "Like he could possibly be anybody el-"

"OI!"

"Oh dear..." Robin covers her mouth with her free hand to smother the escaping giggles.

"Oi," Luffy states again, scowling over at his lover before peering back down at their son, nose wrinkled in disgust. "Zoro... he PEED on me!"

"Nice timing, kid- at least you got him instead of me," the swordsman chuckles, reaching out to caress the fidgeting baby's head gently before he leans back against the headboard with his arms crossed over his chest. "Guess things are gonna get pretty interesting around here with you on-board now, eh?"

xxx

Iceburg and Paulie, already seriously puzzled by the presence of the easily-recognizable brig sloop currently anchored in one of Water Seven's smaller harbors, don't quite understand why Luffy's dancing agitatedly from one foot to the other as he demands to know if he needs to be concerned about his crew's safety.

The Galley-La president assures him that the island is, in fact, Marine-free at the moment and is wondering just how badly the young pirate needs to urinate when he abruptly turns his head and hollers up to where several of the other Straw Hats are standing by the scroll-work adorned railing and peering anxiously down at their captain.

"Oi, Ice-ossan says we're good!"

There's relieved smiles and a flurry of activity overhead as Nami hurries into view, her arms cradling a small bundle of blankets. The navigator is beaming, her eyes starry with elation and barely-contained excitement, and she can't help returning Luffy's enormous smile as Franky reaches out to very, very carefully lower her to the dock below, because she still can't quite believe that Zoro's actually asked her to look after Ace while the others help him get situated.

The captain doesn't seem surprised to see her carrying his securely-wrapped progeny, although his eyes immediately dart towards the women's quarter's balcony.

"He's coming, Luffy. Chopper wants Sanji and Usopp to help bring him out on the stretcher, but I'm sure you can imagine how well that's going over," she tells the younger pirate when she reaches his side, somewhat disappointed when he immediately relieves her of her burden, although being forced to hand over the baby when she's only been able to hold him for a few minutes is almost worth the dopey, awestruck expression that immediately surfaces on the rubber man's face the moment he's got his son supported carefully against his chest.

"Nmaa..."

"What-" Paulie asks, gaze darting between them as he points indignantly at the tiny hand wrapped tightly around the Straw Hat captain's much larger forefinger. "-is THAT?"

"His name is Ace," Luffy explains smugly, and Franky and Brook elbow each other in the sides, hiding wide grins behind their hands, because their crewmate looks every bit the proud father.

"Nmaa," Iceburg remarks again intelligently, absentmindedly stroking Tyrannosaurus's head as the mouse peeks its head from his pocket to peer inquisitively at the growing crowd of pirates.

Eyes bulging, the vice president turns his disbelieving glare on Nami. "YOU!"

"Eh?"

"I warned you what happens to loose women-!"

"Don't be stupid!" Nami struggles to contain her shriek of rage at Paulie's impertinence, conscious of the newborn blinking sleepily in her captain's arms. "Do I look like I've been pregnant, you idiot? He's not mine!"

"Then who-"

"My first mate." Luffy wiggles his trapped finger and laughs when Ace hangs onto it stubbornly. "I'm pretty sure you got Zoro's nose, but you've definitely got his grip!"

"Nico Robin!" Paulie states triumphantly, folding his arms across his chest and staring sternly at the dark-haired woman who's just joined them. "Obviously your short skirts and revealing blouses finally tempted the Pirate Hunter into-"

"Good grief, you ARE an idiot. Tell me, does SHE look like she's been pregnant either?"

Robin laughs softly. "I'm fairly sure our swordsman has very little interest in myself- or any other woman, for that matter. I don't believe he's ever had much luck with them."

The innocent remark produces an effect not unlike a large rock being dropped into a small pond, and the historian realizes her mistake as her crewmates go still around her and the captain tenses, his jaw clenching as he hugs the infant a little closer and fixes her with dark, unreadable eyes.

"Sencho... I apologize- I spoke without thinking."

He stares at her for a moment longer, and then the breath he's holding escapes in a rush. "... s'okay."

Iceburg and Paulie exchange a confused glance.

"Luffy-san, may I ask exactly what's going on here? If neither Nico-san or your navigator are-"

"He's ours," a tired-sounding voice calls down from the lawn deck. "Ace is mine and Luffy's."

Flanked by Sanji, Usopp and Chopper - all of them careful not to touch him yet ready to lend their assistance if it's needed - Zoro's standing at the railing, pale-faced and wavering slightly on his feet from the effort of walking so far on his own, but his face is set with grim determination. His expression softens somewhat at the sight of Luffy holding their son, and the anxiety that he felt on watching Nami leave the women's quarters with the baby finally starts to ease with the knowledge that she's safely delivered Ace to his captain as promised.

"I don't think I understand what-"

"Zoro, you really shouldn't be on your feet yet," Chopper scolds again, watching the swordsman closely for signs of dizziness and fatigue. "Law said you might rupture more sutures if you're not careful and push yourself too hard."

The older pirate snorts. "Asshole should've thought of that before he sucker-punched me in the gut."

"I'm sure he didn't mean to-" Usopp hesitates. "Well, no, that's a lie."

"C'mon, Marimo," Sanji snarls, slapping a hand down on the railing. "Quit trying to act tough and just let us get the goddamn stretcher. It'll take thirty seconds tops and then you can pretend it never happened."

"Who's acting?" Zoro growls back, shooting the cook a fierce glare before he returns his attention to the upturned faces below.

_Gonna hurt like hell climbing down, but I'm sure I can-_

"Don't you DARE." Chopper hisses, fur bristling wildly enough that his Heavy Point form looks about to erupt into Guard Point. "Set one foot over that rail and I'll tie you to the bloody stretcher myself!"

"Gimmie a break- we're only like ten or fifteen feet off the ground!"

"And you have multiple layers of stitches! Law had a really hard time sewing your abdominal muscles back together after he delivered the baby and if you-"

There's a faint thump below.

"Nmaa, are you alright, Paulie?"

"Wh-What exactly is going on here?"

"What's it sound like?" Luffy asks, giving the horrified foreman a mystified look. "Zoro had a baby. My baby."

"That baby, to be exact," Nami supplies helpfully, indicating Ace. "Puzzle pieces fitting together yet?"

"But that- that's-"

"He's awfully cute," Iceburg observes serenely.

"Nee hee-! Yeah, he's-"

"IMPOSSIBLE!"

The captain winces as Paulie's raised voice startles the baby, who lets out a thin, high cry of protest.

"Oi, oi, not so loud," Franky frowns. "Impossible just said you're gettin' too damn noisy."

"Don't yell at my kid, you bastard!"

"Zoro, get down from there!"

"Marimo, get your ass back h-!"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Everyone's gaze is immediately drawn to the deck above, where Zoro's spun to flatten his back against the railing and Sanji's backing away with his hands held high where the swordsman can see them as Chopper forces himself between them, raising his crossed forearms to block the fist swinging at the blond's face.

Luffy's in motion before anyone even realizes what's happened, thrusting Ace into his startled navigator's arms and flinging both arms upwards to wrap snugly around his first mate's torso. The older pirate has just enough time to utter a sharp curse before he's pulled bodily off the ship and into his lover's embrace, but the younger man's already steadying him on his feet before their shocked crewmates can open their mouths to start yelling at him to be careful.

"Zoro shouldn't fight with his nakama," the rubber man scolds gently, motioning for Nami to bring him the baby and tightening his hold when Zoro tries to pull away. "I won't let anybody hurt Ace, and I won't let anybody hurt Zoro again either - and neither will any of them - but Zoro's gotta trust us."

Head reeling from the pleasant surprise of being grabbed and NOT accidentally slammed into the nearest hard surface or catapulted several yards from the ship - and it's a damn good thing too, because it's not difficult to envision such an impact resulting in his insides on the outside, where they most definitely don't belong - the swordsman's lost for words and settles for clutching possessively at the bundle that's just been deposited in the crook of his elbow, and in a moment or two, his heart's frantic pounding slows, calmed by the close presence of his captain and their son.

"Look," Luffy murmurs, nudging the green-haired pirate's shoulder with his forehead. "He's making that baby bird face again- he must be hungry again, huh?"

"Yeah," Zoro sighs, his lips twitching into a wan smile. "If he's anything like you, he's gonna be a bottomless pit."

"Pardon the interruption, Luffy-san, but would you be kind enough to explain just what's going on here and what you're doing here and not in the New World like the papers claim?"

"Mmm?" The captain glances up from where he's been studying the way his first mate's powerful arms are cradling Ace with amazing tenderness. "Ah, well, I guess it's kind of a long story..."


	21. Afterward

Closing Remarks

I'm highly amused and somewhat disturbed that what was originally intended as a twelve-chapter experiment unexpectedly evolved into an eighteen-chapter emotional roller-coaster ride with one epilogue, two endings and several drabbles, some of which are still bouncing around inside my skull waiting to be written.

This fic took me a lot of places I never expected or even particularly wanted to go. It's the first actual mpreg I've ever written - although I suppose I dipped a toe in the water with "Dietary Intervention" - but it's also the first darkfic and the first serious multi-chapter piece I've ever written for any fandom, One Piece or otherwise. And it's also the first time that I included so many OP characters other than the Straw Hats themselves. Ironically enough, I never planned for Trafalgar Law to appear in this fic, and he not only ended up playing an integral role by assisting the crew with the laparotomy, but he kept COMING BACK even after he was technically no longer needed.

Suffice to say, that's a heck of a lot of firsts for one story, so I hope I did them all justice, genres and characters alike.

An enormous amount of research went into writing this insanity, and the One Piece Wiki was an indispensable source of information for character development, while Wikipedia provided information on everything from abdominal pregnancies and laparotomies to katana maintenance to methods of burial at sea and ship design to post-traumatic stress disorder. I'm a stickler for being well-informed on what I'm writing about, and hopefully I was able to get the point across without throwing in too much technical jargon or at least working it into the story in a tolerable way, such as with Chopper and Law's medical expertise.

xxx

I want to take a moment to thank those of you who took the time to leave reviews and comments as this fic progressed, especially those of you who replied to every or almost every chapter. I loved hearing your feedback and knowing that you weren't regretting taking a chance on such an odd story! While I relied heavily on my beta's input for keeping everyone in character - or at least as IC as they could be given the situation - he's my husband and therefore not an entirely unbiased critic, so your feedback was crucial in helping me determine whether or not I was doing it right.

In thanks for your time and thoughtfulness, I'd like to make the following offer: prompt me with something Crossfire-related that I either didn't cover or glossed over while writing the fic. It can be from any point in either the original version or the alternate ending, EXCLUDING THE EPILOGUE for reasons that will be explained in the following section. Zoro with weird food cravings, a Monster Trio conversation about the giant bombardier beetles- hell, even more Sadi or Admirals, if you want. Hit me with a topic and I'll draft a drabble for you.

If you haven't yet reviewed and would be willing to do so, more feedback would be awesome- and while you won't be able to see me, I'll do little happy dances in appreciation.

xxx

I've had quite a few questions from readers regarding the last chapter, namely requests for details about the final battle and the closing scene of the epilogue.

Sorry, but the final battle is deliberately vague, because I was more interested in the end result than anything else. All you need to know is that Luffy finally took out Akainu and succeeded in claiming One Piece before Law got his greedy hands on it, and the Straw Hat crew made it through mostly unscathed, although they're all a bit banged up. So far as Mihawk goes- did Zoro beat him using only one sword or did he get his ass kicked and then win in a rematch sometime later? Your guess is as good as mine.

Obviously, Sanji's dream has been realized because - as Zoro reveals when he's complaining about the sea kings - the Sunny's currently traversing All Blue, but so far as Robin finding the Rio Poneglyph? You can decide if it was on Raftel or not. XD

Regarding the original ending vs the alternate ending... my beta and I like them both for very different reasons, but we agree that the slightly angsty bittersweet one fits the story a lot better than the happy one. Feedback's been mixed about 50/50 so far as what you guys think, both here and on my LJ, and that's fine by me, as long as the alternate ending at least made you laugh and you don't think I'm totally mental for writing it, breastfeeding and scrotums and all. Trust me; I was questioning my own sanity while I was editing, and I had a moment of pure terror when my beta started reading, because while my husband's super open-minded, I wasn't quite sure what he'd think...

Hell, I had a moment of pure terror when I posted the thing here and saw the first hits start popping up.

xxx

Finally, just in case anyone's interested and wants to check them out, here's a list of songs that popped up with increasing frequency on my iPod playlist while I was writing this fic, quickly turned into an impromptu Crossfire FST and often directly influenced the story's tone and mood. While they haven't been separated into any particular order other than alphabetical by artist/band, it's pretty obvious what falls under pre-Impel Down, post-Impel Down and the epilogue and/or alternate ending... and I guess I don't really need to mention that a lot of these are insanely depressing.

Brandon Flower's song "Crossfire" deserves a special mention, as it not only gave me the title for the fic but also became its unofficial theme song. Specific chapters inadvertently got their own themes as well, and you may recognize some of these if you're reading my song-based drabbles. Odds are pretty good that many if not all of these may find their way into that project. The majority of these are LuZo- or ZoLu-centric, although there's a few that I consider all-crew material. Sorry, this list is kinda long.

Adam Lambert - Aftermath

Adam Lambert - Sleepwalker

Angels & Airwaves - The Adventure

Bullet For My Valentine - Forever And Always

Chemistry - Period*

Cold - Ocean

Coldplay - Fix You

Colour The Sky - Sour

Hedley - Perfect

Iris - No One Left To Lose

Iris - Sentimental Scar

Iris - Sorrow Expert

Jack's Mannequin - Dark Blue

Kris Allen - Live Like We're Dying

Lifehouse - All In

Lifehouse - All That I'm Asking For

Lifehouse - Better Luck Next Time

Lifehouse - Broken

Lifehouse - By Your Side

Lifehouse - Crash And Burn

Lifehouse - Days Go By

Lifehouse - Everything

Lifehouse - Had Enough

Lifehouse - Somewhere In Between

Lifehouse - Storm

Lifehouse - Undone

Lostprophets - Always All Ways (Apologies, Glances and Messed Up Chances)

Nickelback - Someday

Owl City - Meteor Shower

Rob Thomas - Mockingbird

Skillet - Awake And Alive

Snow Patrol - It's Beginning To Get To Me

Switchfoot - I Dare You To Move

Switchfoot - Your Love Is A Song**

Teen Hearts - Victim Of Love

The Afters - Runaway***

The Afters - We Won't Give Up

The Click Five - All I Need Is You

The Decemberists - This Is Why We Fight

The Letter Black - Hanging On By A Thread

The Museum - Let Love Win****

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Your Guardian Angel

Thirty Seconds To Mars - This Is War

Three Doors Down - It's Not My Time

Three Doors Down - It's The Only One You've Got

Three Doors Down - Your Arms Feel Like Home

Thriving Ivory - For Heaven's Sake

Tokio Hotel - Love Is Dead

Trapt - Forget About The Rain

Yellowcard - Breathing

*Japanese language version - I know it's a Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood opening, but whenever I hear it, I inevitably picture Crossfire-based opening animation and promptly want to scream in frustration, because I don't have the kind of skills necessary to produce such a thing. It would be totally epic too, with a clip of Surume slamming into the first Gate and sneaky spoilerish flashes of Zoro using Asura...

**Chapter 3, epilogue, alternate ending; pretty much anything mushy. I hear this at work all the time and it drives me crazy.

***Damn song makes me teary-eyed every time I hear it, because it's totally about Chapters 16-17 with Luffy breaking down while Zoro wanders around Water Seven in the rain. I'm listening to it as I type this, actually, and listening to it literally hurts.

****Epilogue and/or alternate ending; also gives me the sniffles.

Also, I swear, Lifehouse was THE band for depressing, heart-wrenching songs that made me inclined to bang my head against my computer desk.

xxx

Once again, thank you for taking the time to read and keep reading despite my bizarre ramblings, and thank you for your feedback. Hope to see you guys around FF and LJ; I'll likely be focusing on much smaller projects - including Encounters and miscellaneous drabbles - while I give myself a breather and decide on an appropriate topic for another multi-chapter fic.


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